"When I received your letter," he said, addressing his father, "I chartered two vessels and persuaded Archie and Jonathan Campbell to go with me for a pleasure trip. We were nearly three months tossing about at the mercy of wind and wave when a hurricane swept the deck of the vessel, carrying with it the main-mast and sails. Water began to pour in at an alarming rate, and after a desperate struggle at the pumps the captain ordered all hands on deck. We felt that we had to prepare for the worst. The sailors had abandoned the pumps from exhaustion, and Jonathan and I took their places and worked until we, too, were exhausted, and as others took our places we retired to the stern, where we found Archie in a sheltered nook, seated upon a coil of rope, playing his violin, apparently oblivious of our perilous condition. "For two days the work at the pumps was a matter of life and death, and when at last the wind subsided we drifted about helplessly until a passing vessel saw our signals of distress and towed us from the Bay of Biscay to Bristol, where the necessary repairs were made to enable us to proceed to Liverpool. We soon disposed of the timber at good profit, and Jonathan, Archie and I took the stage-coach for London, where we had the honor of being presented at Court to gay Prince Geordie, who is acting as Regent, owing to his father's mental derangement. I wish you could have seen the Carleton House," he said, turning to Hannah. "He built it at a cost of £250,000 sterling, and had to sell his stud of race-horses and discharge most of his servants to meet the demands of the creditors, for he had led such a wild, dissipated life that the King and Parliament refused for a long time to help him out of his difficulties. "We visited many places of interest in London and the old farm in Kent, which we found bordered on that of General Wolfe. Then we crossed to France, and after having with great difficulty secured passports, drove to Paris. "If we had arrived on the scene only a few months sooner we might have seen how Napoleon turned Louis XVIII. from the kingdom, or we might have seen the great battle of Waterloo; but Napoleon is now safe at St. Helena, where he was sent last October." "The story of Napoleon Bonaparte," said Captain French, "presents probably the most remarkable example in the world of the action of great intellect and resolute will, unrestrained by conscience, and shows both the possible success which may reward, for a time, the most unscrupulous selfishness and also, fortunately, its certain ultimate failure and overthrow." "Notwithstanding which, I have the greatest admiration for Napoleon," said Rug. "The Captain's sentiments are mine," said the Chief. "He was a man of no conscience, no heart, and one of the most uncompromising enemies of constitutional liberty that the world has ever seen. I am amazed that a born republican like you, Rug, could see anything to admire in despotism or tyranny."