How are we going to Baltimore?"
"A schooner sails to-morrow."
"Can we go in her?"
"Yes."
"Plague take the sea! I never tried it, and I don't want to."
"It will be a short voyage."
"Short, yes, but long enough to make me sick. I don't want to be in the
game. I am not a water dog. Keep me on the dry land, and I'm all right."
But Fernando knew that a journey by land would take much longer than by
sea. Terrence Malone came to see them that evening and informed them
that the schooner would sail next day. He was a jolly young fellow and
had so many droll stories and jokes, that he kept his companions in a
roar of laughter. One joke followed another in such rapid succession
that the youngsters had scarce done laughing at one, before he fired
another at them.
"Baltimore is the most wonderful city in the world, barin Cork," the
fair-haired son of the Emerald Isle declared. "There you find gallant
gintlemen and the prettiest girls on earth. Ah! if you could but see my
Kitty Malone! She's a beauty, just a trifle older than mesilf, but every
inch a darlint. Her head is red, her face a trifle freckled, her body's
so stout that the girt of a mule wouldn't encircle her waist," and here
Terrence winked, "She plays on the wash-board an illigant tune, for
which she charges a half a dime a garment."
"Did you ever meet with such a jolly fellow?" laughed Fernando when he
was gone.
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