I believe things are pretty quiet at Madras, at present; and I have been so long away, now, that a month or two sooner or later will make but little difference." A few hours later, Charlie noticed a change in the colour of the sea, the mud-stained waters of the Hoogly discolouring the Bay of Bengal, far out from its mouth.

The voyage up was a tedious one.

At times the wind fell altogether and, unable to stem the stream, the ship lay for days at anchor, the yellow tide running swiftly by it.
"The saints presarve us, Mr.Charles! Did you ever see the like ?" Tim Kelly exclaimed.

"There's another dead body, floating down towards us, and that is the eighth I've seen this morning.

Are the poor hathen craturs all committing suicide together ?" "Not at all, Tim," Charlie said, "the Hoogly is one of the sacred rivers of India, and the people on its banks, instead of burying their dead, put them into the river and let them drift away." "I calls it a bastly custom, yer honor, and I wonder it is allowed.
One got athwart the cable this morning, and it frightened me nigh out of my sinses, when I happened to look over the bow, and saw the thing bobbing up and down in the water.
"This is tedious work, yer honor, and I'll be glad when we're at the end of the voyage." "I shall be glad, too, Tim.