ARRIVAL AT ASPINWALL.
Both boys were frightened at the terrific shock they experienced while
in the stateroom. Gus had the wind completely knocked out of him, and
Oliver was little better off.
“What can it mean?” cried Oliver as he scrambled to his feet.
“Guess we’ve smashed on the rocks!” groaned the stout youth. “Told you
we’d go to the bottom.”
“If we have, I’m not going to stay below any longer. Come, let us go on
deck.”
Oliver helped Gus to regain his feet, and trembling with excitement as
well as fear, they made their way to the cabin. Here nearly all the
passengers were assembled, most of them in a high state of excitement.
Among the crowd was Mr. Whyland, who quickly joined the boys.
“What is it? What have we struck?” asked Oliver anxiously.
“I do not know. It was a fearful blow.”
“Are we going to the bottom?”
“Hardly. These steamers are very strongly built. I’ll go on deck and
find out.”
But at the companionway he was stopped.
“No one allowed on deck,” said the man in charge of the stairs. “There
is no danger, sir.”
“What did we strike?”
“Struck a small freight schooner, and carried away her bow.”
“Did she sink?”
“Oh, no. But we are steaming near her so as to be on the safe side.”
This news was heard by every one who stood around, and its effect was
to quiet the fearful ones. Many wondered if the schooner was seriously
damaged, and if she would be able to continue her voyage.
It is safe to say that there was little or no sleep that night for
those on board the steamer. Towards morning the storm cleared off, and
the sun rose bright as ever.
“Well, I never!” declared Gus. “The scene has changed as quickly as it
does in a panorama!”
Now that the dreadful rolling had ceased, he felt better, and Oliver
was glad to see him indulge in a fair-sized breakfast.
The meal finished, they went on deck. The freight schooner that had
been struck was nowhere to be seen. Inquiries brought the information
that she had not been seriously damaged and had gone on her way.
The two boys found the day rather monotonous. Look where they might,
nothing could be seen but sky and water, the one nearly as blue as the
other.
“Blue all around makes one feel blue,” remarked Gus. “But I’m thankful
I’m over that awful seasickness. If it had kept up much longer I
believe I would have died.”
“No one ever dies of seasickness,” said Mr. Whyland, who had come up.
“Your health will be better after this dose.”
“Well, it ought to be,” laughed Gus. “I’ve suffered enough. I ought to
have some reward.”
“But we do not always get what we deserve in this world,” responded
the gentleman, and for a moment a light shadow swept across his brow.
“Sometimes both evil and good pass us by.”
At dinner Oliver did full justice to what was passed to him. Gus felt
decidedly strange, and it was some time before he could get into the
peculiar way of eating that was prevalent. Everything that he had,
seemed to be inclined to slide into his lap.
“We can’t stand on much ceremony,” he said. “I think this chicken leg
is better in my stomach than on the floor, so here goes.” And he took
the extremity of the fowl between his fingers and ate it that way.
That day and the next passed slowly. Gus was of the opinion they would
stop at some place before reaching Aspinwall, but in this he was
mistaken. They passed close to the coast of Florida, so close in fact
that the sandy shore with the tall and waving trees and bushes could be
distinctly seen. On the following day they took the course between Cuba
and Yucatan, passing not far from the latter on account of the tide.
They were now in the Caribbean Sea, with the Bay of Honduras behind
them.
“Looks very much like any other bay or gulf, I suppose,” observed Gus,
as he and Oliver stood by the rail watching some sea-gulls as they
winged their way around the ship.
“I guess water looks very much the same in all parts of the earth,” was
Oliver’s reply.
“Mostly,” put in Mr. Whyland, who had overheard the last words;
“although there are some places where it is quite different. Lake Como
in Switzerland is as blue as indigo; the waters of some South American
rivers are intensely green; and then there are the Red and Black
Seas――so called from their general appearance.”
“I should like to see them all,” returned Oliver. “Some day, if I am
able, I intend to become a great traveler.”
“It is very pleasant,” said the gentleman. “But it takes a lot of
money, I can assure you.”
Early on the day following, land somewhere on the isthmus was seen; and
late in the afternoon they steamed into the harbor at Aspinwall, and
dropped anchor. The boys were eager to go ashore, but were told that no
passengers would be allowed to land until the following morning.
“Well, so much of the journey is done,” said Oliver. “How I wish this
was San Francisco Bay!”
“I don’t know as I do,” returned Gus. “Now that I’ve got over that
nasty seasickness, I rather enjoy the trip.”
“I would too, if I didn’t have anything on my mind.”
“Well, you ought not to let that interfere. Worry won’t do any good.”
In the fast approaching darkness but little could be seen. The boys
were sure Aspinwall was a poorly illuminated town, so few lights could
be distinguished. They went below and made all necessary preparations
for leaving the steamer.
The evening passed quickly. At ten o’clock the boys turned in so as to
be on hand bright and early.
And on hand they were. At ten o’clock both stepped out on the dock and
walked slowly up the narrow and dirty street.
“Humph! not much of a city,” said Gus. “See the funny houses all on
stilts!”
“I suppose they build them that way to keep from getting flooded out
when it rains,” laughed Oliver; “or else the sea may occasionally drive
in too far.”
“I would not care to see myself living here. My, how muddy it is! I
guess they haven’t much of a street-cleaning department.”
From one of the officers of the ship the boys learned that, in order to
make connections with the steamer at Panama, they would have to take
the train for that port on the following morning.
“That will give us a whole day in this place,” said Oliver. “Come, let
us start out on a voyage of discovery.”
Gus was nothing loath, and they set out. They passed down the main
street, where they discovered several fine-looking hotels,――quite in
contrast with their shabby surroundings,――and then turned down another
road close beside the water.
Most all of the people they met were either Spaniards, Frenchmen, or
natives. But few Americans were to be seen, and this made both boys
feel more strange than did all the other surroundings.
“We are in a different country, and no mistake,” said Oliver. “See what
queer ways the folks have! It makes me feel like a cat in a strange
garret!”
Presently they drifted into quite a crowd that lined a wharf where a
large boat was discharging fruit. Anxious to see what was going on,
they pressed their way to the front until a tall Spaniard with a long
whip rushed out, and jabbering at all the strangers, drove them off.
“Not a very sociable fellow,” grunted Gus. “By crickety! I thought he
was going to fetch me one across the legs!”
It was now getting toward noon, and both boys were hungry. Oliver was
for going back to the steamer for dinner, but Gus persuaded him to
enter one of the strange eating-houses kept by a native.
“I want to see what kind of stuff they furnish,” he explained.
“All right. Only you must order,” replied Oliver.
So Gus ordered dinner as best he could. While they were waiting for it
to be brought both boys felt in their pockets for money to pay for it.
Neither had so much as a cent!