I tell you I was over anxious to get out of this country, for I well
knew that if I stayed very long I should stay forever, for one like
myself raised in a healthful climate, could not remain long without
taking some of the fatal diseases the country was full of.
We made the trip to the vessel safely, and as our boat lay under the
ship's quarter, the men holding the ropes, I looked up, and when I saw
the swinging rope ladder on which I was expected to climb up to the
ship's deck, it seemed a pretty dangerous job; but I mustered up courage
and made the attempt. The sea was pretty rough out here for the small
boats, and the ship rolled some, so that when persons tried to get hold
of the ladder they were thrown down and sometimes hurt a little. A man
held on to the lower end of the ladder so that the one who was climbing
might not get banged against the side of the ship and have his breath
knocked out of him, I mounted the ladder safely and climbed away like a
monkey, reaching the deck all right. Ladies and weak people were hauled
up in a sort of chair with a block and rope.
It took the most of two days to get the people on board, and when they
were counted up there were one thousand four hundred and forty, all
told. This steamer had a very long upper deck and a comparatively short
keel, and rolled very badly; and as for me, I had swallowed so much of
the deadly malaria of the isthmus that I soon got very seasick, and the
first day or two were very unpleasant.
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