Arriving in Charleston, that night I sought a lodging house, and the next day, after making a thorough toilet and purchasing a few clean clothes, I bought a ticket for my home in the mountains of Western Carolina. Here endeth the first adventure, and I returned, wiser of course, and somewhat disappointed, truth to tell, in not having captured a ruffian. However, I was glad enough to have saved my skin. How uncomfortable to have passed the remainder of my days in the somewhat contracted belly of the alligator. CHAPTER II. A few years later I entered the academic department of the State University, and I can say without blushing that I worked faithfully that year both in my studies and in athletics. When the summer came and the vacation months set in, I returned home and began work on one of the dailies as a reporter, which position I held until college opened the following fall. During my sophomore year I succeeded in making the 'varsity football and track teams, and as a consequence I was pretty much the man by the end of the season. The same year I was elected athletic editor of the _Tar Heel_, the college weekly, which I held down fairly well, as I had had some previous training in the newspaper field. Spring came, and in due time summer and vacation days would follow, but before the spring had fairly set in I began to formulate plans for the summer months. There are numerous ways by which a young man may spend a pleasant summer, but I think by far the most interesting and adventurous one is a trip across the Atlantic on a regular old cattle boat. I decided to make the trip across with two college chums. Arriving at Newport News, Va., two days after we had finished our examinations, we were not long in completing our arrangements for a trip on the cattle boat. The cattle exporter agreed to give us each one pound, English money, and a return passage on one of the company's boats. This being satisfactory, we were instructed to be on board early the following morning, as the ship was due to sail by seven o'clock sharp. The night previous to our sailing we slept very little, so anxious were we for the morrow. Awaking about four o'clock on the morning of our sailing, we immediately proceeded to don the rough and ready clothes for this occasion. By the time our dress was completed we looked like graduated tramps or some other creatures of the same sort with the degree "Hell from Texas." Brownie with his blue bandanna. Dug with his old football jersey and corduroy trousers, and I with my boots and a sweater which had seen service for several years.