"We are only waiting for our passengers," replied my countryman.
"Are there many?"
"Twelve or thirteen hundred."
At half-past eleven the tender was hailed, laden with passengers, who, as I afterwards learnt, were Californians, Canadians, Americans, Peruvians, English, Germans, and two or three Frenchmen. Among the most distinguished were the celebrated Cyrus Field of New York, the Honourable John Rose of Canada, the Honourable J. Mac Alpine of New York, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Cohen of San Francisco, Mr. and Mrs. Whitney of Montreal, Captain Mc Ph and his wife. Among the French was the founder of the "Great Eastern Freight Company," M. Jules D, representative of the "Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company," who had made a contribution of twenty thousand pounds to the fund.
The tender ranged herself at the foot of a flight of steps, and then began the slow, interminable ascent of passengers and luggage.
The first care of each passenger, when he had once set foot on the steamer, was to go and secure his place in the dining-room; his card, or his name written on a scrap of paper, was enough to insure his possession.
I remained on deck in order to notice all the details of
