throngs composed of individuals every one of whom wanted to see the
captain first and at once: and those who could not get to him shouted
over the heads of the others; and as usual he lost his temper and
politeness, and began to do what he termed "hustle."

"Captain! Captain!" a voice called him to where a hand plucked his
sleeve, and a letter was thrust toward him. "The cross, and the name
of the convent." He recognized the envelop of the mother superior. He
read the duplicate of the letter given by the sisters. He looked at
the woman--the mother--casually, then again and again.

The little convent girl saw him coming, leading some one toward her.
She rose. The captain took her hand first, before the other greeting,
"Good-by, my dear," he said. He tried to add something else, but
seemed undetermined what. "Be a good little girl--" It was evidently
all he could think of. Nodding to the woman behind him, he turned on
his heel, and left.

One of the deck-hands was sent to fetch her trunk. He walked out
behind them, through the cabin, and the crowd on deck, down the
stairs, and out over the gangway. The little convent girl and her
mother went with hands tightly clasped. She did not turn her eyes to
the right or left, or once (what all passengers do) look backward at
the boat which, however slowly, had carried her surely over dangers
that she wot not of. All looked at her as she passed. All wanted to
say good-by to the little convent girl, to see the mother who had been
deprived of her so long. Some expressed surprise in a whistle; some
in other ways. All exclaimed audibly, or to themselves, "Colored!"

It takes about a month to make the round trip from New Orleans to