The days were growing warm and sunny and thankfully the sea was calm, allowing each of them a chance to grow accustomed to the endless rise and fall of the ship. The young women were bunked together in a section of the lower deck and a cloth curtain separated them from the other passengers. Two family groups were also aboard, officers of the French Army with their wives and children. Several men engaged in the business of trade, Father Gilbert a Marist priest, and a small contingent of young soldiers completed the passenger list. Within three weeks they had sailed past France and Portugal and were approaching the Madeira Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. Here they would stop to take on fresh supplies. By then all the passengers had met one another and merged into a friendly group of travel companions. Louise, in her outgoing adventurous way, had made the acquaintance of all the passengers. But much to Clotilde’s consternation, Louise was now spending nearly all of her time with a handsome young man, a passenger who had also boarded at Brest.
