THE "SUMMER SHELTER" GOES TO SEA
Mr. Burke did not arrive to escort Mrs. Cliff and Willy Croup to the
yacht until nearly nine o'clock in the evening. They had sent their
baggage to the vessel in the afternoon, and had now been expecting him,
with great impatience, for nearly an hour, but when Mr. Burke arrived,
it was impossible to find fault with him, for he had been busy, he said,
every minute of the day.
He had made up a full crew; he had a good sailing-master, and the first
mate who had been on the yacht before; everything that he could think of
in the way of provisions and stores were on board, and there was
nothing to prevent their getting out of the harbor early in the morning.
When Mrs. Cliff stepped on board her yacht, the _Summer Shelter_, her
first thought was directed towards her guests of the Synod; and when the
mate, Mr. Burdette, had advanced and been introduced to her, she asked
him if any of the clergymen had yet appeared.
"They're all aboard, madam," said he--"fourteen of them! They came
aboard about seven o'clock, and they stayed in the saloon until about
half-past nine, and one of them came to me and said that as they were
very tired they thought they'd go to bed, thinking, most likely, as it
was then so late you wouldn't come aboard until morning. So the steward
showed them their state-rooms, and we had to get one more ready than we
expected to, and they're now all fast asleep; but I suppose I could
arouse some of them up if you want to see them!"
Mrs. Cliff turned to Burke with an expression of despair on her face.
"What in the world shall I do?" said she. "I wanted to tell them all
about it and let them decide, but it would be horrible to make any of
them who didn't care to go to get up and dress and go out into this damp
night air to look for a hotel!"
"Well," said Burke, "all that's going ashore has got to go ashore
to-night. We'll sail as soon as it is daylight! If I was you, Mrs.
Cliff, I wouldn't bother about them. You invited them to go to the
Bahamas, and you're going to take them there, and you're going to send
them back the best way you can, and I'm willing to bet a clipper ship
against your yacht that they will be just as well satisfied to come
back in a regular steamer as to come back in this! You might offer to
send them over to Savannah, and let them come up by rail,--they might
like that for a change! The way the thing looks to me, madam, you're
proposing to give them a good deal more than you promised."
"Well," said Mrs. Cliff, "one thing is certain! I'm not going to turn
any of them out of their warm beds this night; and we might as well go
to our rooms, for it must be a good deal after ten."
When Willy Croup beheld her little state-room, she stood at the door and
looked in at it with rapture. She had a beautiful chamber in Mrs.
Cliff's new house, fully and elegantly furnished, but there was
something about this little bit of a bedroom, with all its nautical
conveniences, its hooks, and shelves, and racks, its dear little window,
and its two pretty berths,--each just big enough and not a bit too
big,--which charmed her as no room she had ever seen had charmed her.
The _Summer Shelter_ must have started, Mrs. Cliff thought, before
daylight the next morning, for when she was awakened by the motion of
the engine it was not light enough to distinguish objects in the room.
But she lay quietly in her berth, and let her proud thoughts mount high
and spread wide. As far as the possession of wealth and the sense of
power could elevate the soul of woman, it now elevated the soul of Mrs.
Cliff.
This was her own ship which was going out upon the ocean! This was her
engine which was making everything shake and tremble! The great screw
which was dashing the water at the stern and forcing the vessel through
the waves belonged to her! Everything--the smoke-stacks, the tall masts,
the nautical instruments--was her property! The crew and stewards, the
engineers, were all in her service! She was going to the beautiful
island of the sunny tropics because she herself had chosen to go there!
It was with great satisfaction, too, that she thought of the cost of all
this. A great deal of money had been paid for that yacht, and it had
relieved, as scarcely any other expenditure she would be likely to make
could have relieved, the strain upon her mind occasioned by the pressure
of her income. Even after the building of her new apartments her money
had been getting the better of her. Now she felt that she was getting
the better of her money.
By the way the yacht rolled and, at the same time, pitched and tossed,
Mrs. Cliff thought it likely that they must be out upon the open sea,
or, at least, well down the outer bay. She liked the motion, and the
feeling that her property, moving according to her will, was riding
dominant over the waves of the sea, sent a genial glow through every
vein. It was now quite light, and when Mrs. Cliff got up and looked out
of her round window she could see, far away to the right, the towering
lighthouses of Sandy Hook.
About eight o'clock she dressed and went out on deck. She was proud of
her good sailing qualities. As she went up the companion-way, holding
firmly to the bright brass rail, she felt no more fear of falling than
if she had been one of the crew. When she came out on the upper deck,
she had scarcely time to look about her, when a man, whom at first sight
she took for a stranger, came forward with outstretched hand. But in an
instant she saw it was not a stranger,--it was Captain Burke, but not as
she had ever seen him before. He was dressed in a complete suit of white
duck with gold buttons, and he wore a white cap trimmed with gold,--an
attire so different from his high silk hat and the furs that it was no
wonder that at first she did not recognize their wearer.
"Why, Captain Burke," she cried, "I didn't know you!"
"No wonder," said he; "this is a considerable change from my ordinary
toggery, but it's the uniform of a captain of a yacht; you see that's
different from what it would be if I commanded a merchant vessel, or a
liner, or a man-of-war!"
"It looks awfully cool for such weather," said she.
"Yes," said the Captain, "but it's the proper thing; and yachts, you
know, generally cruise around in warmish weather. However, we're getting
south as fast as we can. I tell you, madam, this yacht is a good one!
We've just cast the log, and she's doing better than fourteen knots an
hour, and we haven't got full steam on, either! It seems funny, madam,
for me to command a steamer, but I'll get used to it in no time. If it
was a sailing-vessel, it wouldn't be anything out of the way, because
I've studied navigation, and I know more about a ship than many a
skipper, but a steam yacht is different! However, I've got men under me
who know how to do what I order them to do, and if necessary they're
ready to tell me what I ought to order!"
"I don't believe there could be a better captain," said Mrs. Cliff, "and
I do hope you won't take cold! And now I want to see the ministers as
soon as they are ready. I think it will be well for me to receive them
up here. I am not sure that I remember properly the names of all of
them, but I shall not hesitate to ask them, and then I shall present
each one of them to you: it will be a sort of a reception, you know!
After that we can all go on pleasantly like one family. We will have to
have a pretty big table in the saloon, but I suppose we can manage
that!"
"Oh yes," said Mr. Burke; "and now I'll see the steward and tell him to
let the parsons know that you're ready to receive them."
About a quarter of an hour after this the steward appeared on deck, and
approaching Mrs. Cliff and the Captain, touched his hat. "Come to
report, sir," said he, "the ministers are all sea-sick! There ain't none
of them wants to get out of their berths, but some of them want tea."
Mrs. Cliff and the Captain could not help laughing, although she
declared it was not a laughing matter.
"But it isn't surprising," said the Captain; "it's pretty rough, and I
suppose they're all thorough-bred landsmen. But they'll get over it
before long, and when they come on deck it's likely it will be
pleasanter weather. We're having a considerable blow just now, and it
will be worse when we get farther out! So I should say that you and
Miss Croup and myself had better have our breakfast."
The steward was still standing by, and he touched his hat again, this
time to Mrs. Cliff.
"The other lady is very sea-sick! I heard her groaning fearfully as I
passed her door."
"Oh, I must go down to Willy," said Mrs. Cliff. "And, Captain, you and I
will have to breakfast together."
As Mrs. Cliff opened the door of Willy Croup's state-room, a pale white
face in the lower berth was turned towards her, and a weak and trembling
voice said to her, "Oh, Sarah, you have come at last! Is there any way
of getting me out of this horrible little hole?"
For two days Mrs. Cliff and Captain Burke breakfasted, dined, and supped
by themselves. They had head-winds, and the sea was very rough, and
although the yacht did not make the time that might have been expected
of her in fair weather, she did very well, and Burke was satisfied. The
two stewards were kept very busy with the prostrate and dejected members
of the Synod, and Mrs. Cliff and the stewardess devoted their best
efforts to the alleviation of the woes of Willy, which they were glad to
see were daily dwindling.
They had rounded Cape Hatteras, the sea was smoother, the cold wind had
gone down, and Willy Croup, warmly wrapped up, was sitting in a steamer
chair on deck. The desire that she might suddenly be transferred to
Plainton or to heaven was gradually fading out of her mind, and the blue
sky, the distant waves, and the thought of the approaching meal were
exercising a somewhat pleasurable influence upon her dreamy feeling,
when Captain Burke, who stood near with a telescope, announced that the
steamer over there on the horizon line was heading south and that he had
a notion she was the _Antonina_, the vessel on which Shirley had sailed.
"I believed that we could overhaul her!" said he to Mrs. Cliff. "I
didn't know much about her sailing qualities, but I had no reason to
believe she has the speed of this yacht, and, as we're on the same
course, I thought it likely we would sight her, and what's more, pass
her. We'll change our course a little so that we will be closer to her
when we pass."
Mrs. Cliff, who had taken the glass, but could not see through it very
well, returned it to the Captain and remarked, "If we can go so much
faster than she does, why can't we take Mr. Shirley on board when we
catch up to her?"
"I don't know about that," said Burke. "To do that, both vessels would
have to lay to and lose time, and she might not want to do it as she's a
regular steamer, and carries the mail. And besides, if Shirley's under
orders,--that is, the same thing as orders,--to go straight to Jamaica,
I don't know that we have any right to take him off his steamer and
carry him to Nassau. Of course, he might get to Jamaica just as soon,
and perhaps sooner, if he sailed with us, but we don't know it! We may
be delayed in some way; there're lots of things that might happen, and
anyway, I don't believe in interfering with orders, and I know Shirley
doesn't either. I believe he would want to keep on. Besides, we don't
really know yet that that's the _Antonina_."
A couple of hours, however, proved that Captain Burke's surmise had been
correct, and it was not long before the two vessels were abreast of each
other. The yacht had put on all steam and had proved herself capable of
lively speed. As the two vessels approached within hailing distance,
Captain Burke went up on the little bridge, with a speaking-trumpet, and
it was not long before Shirley was on the bridge of the other steamer,
with another trumpet.
To the roaring conversation which now took place, everybody on each
vessel who was not too sick, who had no duties, or could be spared from
them, listened with the most lively interest. A colloquy upon the lonely
sea between two persons, one upon one vessel and the other upon another,
must always be an incident of absorbing importance.
Very naturally Shirley was amazed to find it was his friend Burke who
was roaring at him, and delighted when he was informed that the yacht
was also on its way to Jamaica to meet Captain Horn. After a quarter of
an hour of high-sounding talk, during which Shirley was informed of
Burke's intention to touch at Nassau, the interview terminated; the
_Summer Shelter_ shaping her course a little more to the south, by
night-fall the _Antonina_ had faded out of sight on the northeast
horizon.
"I shouldn't wonder," said Captain Burke at dinner, "if we got to
Jamaica before her anyway, although we're bound to lose time in the
harbor at Nassau."
The company at the dinner-table was larger than it had yet been. Five
members of the Synod had appeared on deck during the speaking-trumpet
conversation, and feeling well enough to stay there, had been warmly
greeted and congratulated by Mrs. Cliff. The idea of a formal reception
had, of course, been given up, and there was no need of presenting these
gentlemen to the Captain, for he had previously visited all of his
clerical passengers in their berths, and was thus qualified to present
them to Mrs. Cliff as fast as they should make their appearance. At
dinner-time two more came into the saloon, and the next morning at
breakfast the delegation from the Synod were all present, with the
exception of two whose minds were not yet quite capable of properly
appreciating the subject of nutrition.
When at last the _Summer Shelter_ found herself in the smoother waters
and the warmer air of the Gulf Stream, when the nautilus spread its
gay-colored sail in the sunlight by the side of the yacht, when the
porpoises flashed their shining black bodies out of the water and
plunged in again as they raced with the swiftly moving vessel, when
great flocks of flying-fish would rise into the air, skim high above the
water, and then all fall back again with a patter as of big rain-drops,
and the people on the deck of the _Summer Shelter_ took off their heavy
wraps and unbuttoned their coats, it was a happy company which sailed
with Mrs. Cliff among the beautiful isles of the West Indies.