"ALL ASHORE WHO ARE GOING ASHORE!"
Three hours later, refreshed and invigorated by a most delectable lunch,
eaten in the beautiful dining-room of the hotel, our travelers were ready
for the last stage of the preparatory journey. Nothing remained now but
the short ride to the wharf and then--the rapture of embarking on the
wonderful "Mauretania," which had hitherto been but a magic name to them,
breathing of romance and wonder. Then a final farewell to their friends,
and before them stretched the great European continent, holding the
unfathomed mysteries of thousands of years.
There was England, upon whose soil, in ancient times the savage Britons
fought against great Caesar--and lost. There was France, scene of the
bloodiest revolution that has ever dyed red the pages of history--a
revolution that proved supreme the tremendous, onrushing power of the
masses. And there was Rome itself, where every inch of soil, where every
nook and cranny of the famous catacombs marked some great historic drama
played in the days when "to be a Roman were better than a king!"
With all the romance of the Old War about to unfold itself to their
enchanted eyes, is it any wonder that our girls were eager for the
start?
"All ready?" said Jack.
"Oh, I've been ready and waiting for half an hour or more," laughed
Lucile. "I do wish the folks would hurry!"
"I'm afraid you don't like our great city, you seem so anxious to leave
it--and me," he said, with a reproachful side glance.
"Oh, I do, I do! I love it--the city, I mean!" she added, in some
confusion, as he glanced at her inquiringly. "It's all wonderful, and I
could spend a year here without getting tired; but as long as we do have
to leave it, I wish we would hurry," she added, naively.
"Well, here come your brother and Jessie now, so you won't have much
longer to wait--worse luck!" said Jack, with a wry smile. "I suppose I
may at least be allowed the privilege of seeing you safely on board?"
Lucile threw him a merry glance as the rest came up. "I suppose you may,"
she mimicked.
A few minutes later they stepped out of the cab and onto a sun-flooded
wharf, where confusion reigned supreme. An immense crowd of people stood
upon the dock, talking, laughing and gesticulating excitedly, and every
one seemed in the highest of spirits. And, indeed, how could they be
anything else, thought Lucile, as she looked about her with dancing eyes;
the world had never seemed so essentially a place to laugh in as it did
on this glorious morning.
"Well, we haven't very much further to go," said Mr. Payton, beaming
genially down upon them. "There's the good ship, 'Mauretania,' mates.
Neat little craft, eh?"
And following the direction of his glance, they gazed for a second at the
towering bulk of the steamer, scarcely daring to believe the evidence of
their eyes.
"Say, that's class!" breathed Phil, reverently, and Jessie added, "You
could put all of Burleigh in one corner and never miss it!"
They all laughed, and Lucile started forward. "We can go on board now,
can't we, Dad?" she inquired.
"Sure we can go on board. We'll have just about time to look at our
staterooms, if we hurry."
Since that was just the very thing everybody was most anxious to do, they
wasted very little time in following his suggestion.
Jack kept close to Lucile's side as they threaded their way through the
crowd, and Phil took charge of the other two girls.
As Lucile watched the three, she suddenly broke into a little ripple of
laughter, and, upon being questioned severely as to the reason of such
unseemly mirth, she said, gaily, "I was just wondering what poor Phil
will do with three girls, and one his sister, at that."
Jack laughed amusedly. "It will be pretty hard on the poor fellow," he
admitted. "I think I ought to go along. I could at least relieve him of
his sister."
"For which he would be devoutly thankful," she added.
"No more than I," said Jack, from which we may gather that our friend was
much accomplished in the gentle art of flattery. However, to do him
justice, he meant it, and even the most confirmed old bachelor, looking
at Lucile, must have admitted that he had just and sufficient cause. In
fact, there were not many who did not look at Lucile, who, with flushed
cheeks and shining eyes, was the very image of radiant happiness.
At last their party had wormed its way through the crowd and were waiting
at the foot of the gangplank for them to come up.
"Goodness! I had no idea it was so enormous!" Evelyn was saying. "I'm
almost afraid of it."
"You'd better stick close to me," Jessie advised. "Then if we get lost,
we'll at least have company."
"Don't let's stand here, at any rate," Mrs. Payton broke in, impatiently.
"Our friends won't have a minute to look at our staterooms."
"We had to wait for the young folks, my dear," suggested Mr. Payton,
mildly, and then, as Lucile and Jack joined them, he hurried them before
him with scant ceremony. "We don't want to lose you," he explained, when
they laughingly protested.
And then, at last, they were on deck, where a steward relieved them of
their light luggage.
The girls tried to take in everything at once as they followed their
guide along the deck and down the cabin stairs, but they had at last to
give it up as a bad job.
"I feel as if I must be home in Burleigh, dreaming all this," said
Jessie. "I'm getting dizzy trying to take in all the new impressions."
"Stick close to me, then," Phil invited. "I'll be on deck when you
faint."
"Much good that will do Jessie when she is in the cabin," remarked
Evelyn, with scathing sarcasm.
"Oh-h!" groaned the boys in unison, and Jessie clapped her hands
delightedly, crying, "That's right, Evelyn; give it to them whenever you
can."
And then all nonsense stopped suddenly as the steward paused and, fitting
the key in the lock, disclosed the stateroom engaged for Mr. and Mrs.
Payton. They crowded into the room and the girls set about examining
everything without more ado.
"Oh, isn't it splendid?" cried Lucile. "You would never dream from the
looks of this room that we were on board ship. Why, it's just as complete
and comfortable as our rooms at home!"
"Pretty nifty," Phil agreed, as his glance traveled from the neat brass
bed to the dresser and the large, inviting chair.
"I hate to hurry you," said Mr. Payton, as he pulled out his watch, "but
as time waits for no man, we will have to hustle considerably if we
expect to see the other two rooms."
So, reluctant to leave secrets still to be discovered, yet anxious to see
their own room, the girls filed out, talking and laughing all at once,
till they reached a door a little further down the corridor, which Mr.
Payton designated as belonging to their stateroom.
While they waited it seemed to them that never before had simple tasks,
such as fitting a key into the lock, been performed with such
exasperating slowness, and the girls fairly danced with impatience. The
older folks smiled indulgently, and Mr. Sanderson chuckled as he pulled
Evelyn's ear and inquired inanely, "if she were having a good time."
He was crushed a moment later by the withering scorn from three pairs of
merry eyes, and Mrs. Payton exclaimed, laughingly, "Such a question! All
you have to do is just look at them."
Then, at last, the door flew open and they gazed on what was to be their
own domain for five days at least; and it is safe to say that, in her
heart, each of the girls wished it were to be twice as long.
"Oh, isn't it perfectly, beautiful, wonderfully lovely?" cried Jessie,
getting more excited with each adjective, and when the others laughed
merrily at the extravagance of her description, she added, defiantly, "I
don't care; it is! I'll leave it to any one."
"You are right as far as you went, Jessie," Lucile backed her up, "only
you didn't say half enough."
"And there's a full bed and a cot, just as we thought," Evelyn went on
with the inventory, "and a bea-utiful dresser, and three darling chairs,
and--and----" she finished incoherently.
"I'm sorry you all seem so dissatisfied," said Mr. Payton, with so droll
an attempt to look gloomy that Lucile then and there threw her arms about
his neck and gave him an ecstatic kiss, crying joyfully, "Oh, you are the
most wonderful father in all the world!"
"Lucile!" exclaimed her mother warningly, whereupon Lucile, who was far
too happy to consider consequences, promptly kissed the astonished lady.
"To say nothing of Mother!" she cried.
Much to every one's surprise, far from being displeased, Mrs. Payton
seemed rather to enjoy her daughter's impulsive outburst, merely
cautioning her not to overheat and overexcite herself too much, as the
day gave promise of being a very hot one.
"The big portholes make it so nice and light, too," said Jessie, again
referring to the stateroom. "Why, one wouldn't even mind being seasick
here!"
"Oh, Jessie!" cried Lucile and Evelyn, in dismay, and Lucile added, "I
guess it doesn't make much difference where you are when you're seasick.
From all I have heard, you just about wish you could die."
Mr. Payton laughed, and said, reassuringly, "The probability is that none
of us will be sick, but we needn't worry about it till the time comes,
anyway. And now," he added, "I guess, if you young people can tear
yourselves away, we had better go on deck."
"But we haven't seen Phil's room yet." Lucile began, when that young
gentleman, interrupted with a superior, "Don't let that worry you. I
wouldn't have a lot of girls making a fuss over my quarters."
"We probably wouldn't anyway," said Jessie, and passed out with her nose
in the air.
"I've heard that lemons and salt herring are good for seasickness," Jack
teased, as they stepped on deck.
"Oh, don't!" Lucile pleaded, puckering her mouth at the thought of the
lemon. "There is only one comfort," she added, triumphantly, "and that
is, if I am seasick, you won't be here to know it."
"That's cruel," he laughed back; then added, quickly, "But you are going
to write to me, any way, and tell me all about your experiences, aren't
you?"
"I don't--know," she answered, doubtfully. "You see, even if Mother were
willing, I wouldn't stay in one place very long--and----"
They were standing near the rail, Jack bending toward her very earnestly
and she, gazing out over the crowded wharf, a little confused and very
uncertain what to do; and yet, in her girl's heart, she knew what she
_wanted_ to do!
"If you don't want to get left, Turnbull, you'd better hustle," sang out
Phil. "Everybody's off that's going."
Jack leaned forward and took Lucile's hand. "Please," he urged. "Just a
little short letter--anything, as long as you write. Won't you please?"
Then Lucile's last little barrier gave way and, with a quick,
half-whispered "All right," she ran to join her father and mother, who
had caught the little inter-change and had regarded each other with
troubled eyes. "Perhaps it's just as well we are going to Europe," Mrs.
Payton had said, and Mr. Payton had nodded an unusually grave consent.
Jessie and Evelyn were engrossed in taking leave of their folks, who were
half laughing, half crying at the thought of parting with them for so
long.
Again the warning cry, "All ashore that are going ashore!" and, with a
last hug and kiss and cry of "Take care of yourselves and be good," the
ladies, assisted by their impatient escorts, hurried down the gangplank
and were instantly lost to sight among the jostling mob down below.
"Phil, run and get the spy-glasses--quick!" directed Mrs. Payton. "They
are in the grip in my stateroom. Here's the key--hurry!"
So Phil raced off as directed and the rest were pushed up against the
rail by the crowd that pressed four deep behind them, all striving
eagerly for a last sight of the dear ones on the wharf.
"Where are they?" cried Jessie, frantically. "I can't see a soul----Oh,
yes; there's Dad's hat, I know--look, he's waving it----"
"And there's your mother, too, Evelyn," Lucile broke in. "See, she's
waving her handkerchief----"
"Oh, I can see them all now," said Evelyn, dancing up and down excitedly.
"They're all there, oh--oh-h----"
"Here's Phil," said Lucile, making room for him, as he wormed his way
through. "He didn't waste much time."
"Bet your life I didn't," said Phil. "How I found the place I don't
know--must have been a sort of instinct, I guess. Here you are, Mother."
Then there was a great noise and rattle as the gangplank was pulled up,
and a moment later the great ship began to draw away ever so slowly and
majestically, and the great whistle shrieked a blatant blast of farewell
to the shouting, cheering, handkerchief-waving crowd on the wharf.
"Lucy," whispered Evelyn, squeezing her friend's arm so tightly that it
hurt, "did you ever see anything like it?"