With the rising of the sun the gale had broken, and by the time the party in the cabin left the table, the north-east monsoon was soothing the ocean with its gentle blast. The angry sea was rapidly becoming good-natured again, though the waves were still high enough to give the ship an uneasy motion. But all the party, and no less the trio added to their number, had their sea-legs on, and no reasonable motion disturbed any of them.

The two engineers from the wreck of the Travancore had been as carefully looked after as the strangers in the main cabin. They had been supplied with clothing, and they had breakfasted in the mess-room on the best the larder afforded. The third person brought in by the second cutter was the Hindu cook of the wrecked steamer; but he spoke English very well, and had been otherwise Europeanized. He had been turned over to Baldy Bickling, the second cook of the ship, who had clothed and fed him, and seemed to be unable to do enough for him.

The three gentlemen in the cabin were as sociable as could be desired; and though it was Sunday morning, the scene at the tables had been very animated.

When the meal was finished, the guests at their own request were shown over the ship; and they were not at all reserved in the expression of their admiration at the elegance with which she had been fitted up, and not less at the convenience of all the arrangements.

Lord Tremlyn was particularly interested in the educational feature of the Guardian-Mother, as Captain Ringgold explained his pet scheme in the library, or study, abaft the state-cabin, as it was called on the plan of the vessel prepared by the gentleman for whom she had been built. The guests looked at the titles of the books, considerable additions to which had been made at Cairo, Alexandria, and elsewhere.

"This is not a library of romances," said his lordship with a smile, as he took in the encyclopædias, books of travel, scientific treatises, and geographical works.

"No, sir; they cover a broad range of useful information," replied the commander. "Those of our company who are disposed to read novels supply themselves with that kind of literature. Quite a number of them are lecturers"--

"Lecturers!" exclaimed the distinguished guest. "Then a large number of your passengers must be scientific people."

"Not at all, sir; the large majority of them are men and women of good education, and Professor Giroud is a learned Frenchman who has been a lecturer at various colleges and schools. Dr. Hawkes is a leading member of his profession, and is sometimes a lecturer in various medical and surgical institutions in New York. Both of these gentlemen are making this voyage to regain their health, injured by over-work."

"You are fortunate in having such men on board," added his lordship.

"But most of our lecturers are persons of fair education, and only three of them have been graduated from the university. We assign subjects to them some time in advance, and they prepare themselves for the occasion. This gives the unprofessional people an interest in the exercises they would not otherwise have. For example, Mr. Woolridge"--

"I beg pardon, but he is the father of the beautiful young lady who was seated at the table next to Mr. Belgrave, is he not?" interposed Lord Tremlyn.

"The same, sir. At first he considered the lectures a bore; and doubtless they were such to him, for he had been a sporting-man and a yachtsman, though he has since abandoned the races. But I gave him as a subject the horses and other animals of Egypt. He did very well with it in his peculiar way; and since that he is one of the most interested in the lectures,--or perhaps I had better call them simply talks," added the commander.

"Then this voyage will create a new taste for him."

"I have no doubt of it. He is a Fifth Avenue millionaire, and he is able to cultivate any taste he may acquire. Mr. Belgrave is one of our most useful speakers, for he studies his subjects very faithfully. He is a devoted student, speaks French fluently, and gets along very well with Spanish. This voyage is a college course for him."

"Do your ladies take an interest in these lectures, Captain Ringgold?"

"All of them, though I have assigned a subject to only one of them. They all manifest their interest by asking questions. Like myself, Mrs. Belgrave and Mrs. Blossom are Methodists, while the Woolridge family are Episcopalians, though none of us are bigoted. The sisters of my church are very favorable to religious topics, such as were suggested on the Nile; and when we were near the land of Goshen and the Sinai peninsula Mrs. Belgrave spoke to us in this connection. Mrs. Blossom is one of the "salt of the earth," a very good woman, very religious, and her studies have been confined to the Bible and her denominational newspapers. Her education was neglected, and she is rather tonguey, so that she asks curious questions; but we all esteem her very highly, though her American peculiarities may seem very odd to you."

"I have known similar people in England, and your description of her leads me to respect the lady," replied the titled gentleman, who appeared to be very democratic so far as homely merit was concerned.

Dr. Hawkes had taken his professional brother in charge, and Louis, Sir Modava, as the commander had Lord Tremlyn, and they were showing them over the ship. We need not follow them or repeat their explanations; but they finally reached the promenade deck, where all the officers were presented to the guests of the steamer. At Conference Hall the three couples met, and the lectures were again commented upon; for this subject was uppermost in the mind of the commander.

"Do you have a lecture to-day, Captain Ringgold?" asked his lordship.

"No, sir; this is Sunday, and we keep the Sabbath in a reasonable manner, and the conference is usually omitted on this day, though when the subject is appropriate for the day the lecture is given. The professor is a Roman Catholic; but we have not had the slightest friction in regard to any man's creed. The owner and voyager in our consort, the white ship abreast of us, whose boat picked up five men of your ship's company, is a Mohammedan, though the captain and his wife are Congregationalists. We have a religious service on board at eleven o'clock, to which your party are invited, though no umbrage will be taken if you prefer to absent yourselves."

"I shall certainly attend," replied his lordship; and his companions said the same. "Have you a chaplain?"

"We have not, and I am obliged to act in that capacity for the want of a better," replied the captain. "We Methodists are all trained to 'speak in meeting,' wh............