THE STARRY FLAG.
Levi Fairfield, in happy ignorance of the misfortune which had befallen
his uncle, headed The Starry Flag towards the mansion of Mr. Watson.
This was to be a great day with him, and he was filled with hope and
exultation.
The Starry Flag was a capital boat, but Levi had long been beset by an
ambition to sail something larger. This desire was about to be
realized, for Mr. Watson, always a lover of the sea, had contracted for
a yacht of eighty tons, at the establishment of a celebrated builder in
the city. She was to be ready by the 1st of June, but she was not
completely stored and furnished till the 10th.
Mr. Watson had remained in the city over night, and was to sail in the
yacht for his summer home the next morning--on the day that Levi missed
falling into the chasm. As the wind was fair, and tolerably fresh, the
young skipper thought she would arrive by noon, and he was to take the
ladies round as far as Eastern Point, to give her a welcome to the
waters of the Cape.
Levi was to be the commander of the yacht, and he was every way
qualified for the position. He had studied navigation, could take an
observation, and do all the problems required of a thorough sailing
master. On the deck of a vessel he was in his element, and there was
not a point in navigation or seamanship with which he was not familiar.
He could not only hand, reef, and steer, but he could knot and splice,
parcel and serve, as neatly and as skilfully as a veteran man-of-war's
man. He was interested in such matters, and had spent hours and hours
in making short and long splices, eye splices, Turk's heads, and other
parts of rigging, until he was an adept in the art.
Bessie had been the prime mover in this enterprise. She insisted upon
having a craft in which the whole family could go off for a month, and
be almost as comfortable as in their own home. She prevailed in this,
as she did in nearly everything which involved only the will of her
father to gratify her.
Bessie and Mrs. McGilvery were handed into the boat at the pier behind
the house, and The Starry Flag was soon dancing over the long waves
that roll into Sandy Bay from the broad ocean. All the party were
excited; for to see a splendid, new yacht, in which they hoped to have
many good times, was enough to kindle a glowing enthusiasm in such
lovers of the art of boating.
"You don't know her name yet--do you, Levi?" said Bessie, in a kind of
taunting tone.
"I do not, but I shall soon find out if this breeze holds," replied the
skipper, who had been wilfully kept in ignorance on this important
matter.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" added Bessie, teasing him.
"Of course I would; but I am willing to wait a few hours longer."
"Why don't you manifest a little impatience about it?" pouted she.
"It wouldn't do any good; besides, I am a Yankee, and I think I can
guess what her name is. Indeed, I feel almost sure I know it."
"What do you think it is?"
"That's telling," laughed Levi.
"But won't you tell me?" said Bessie, assuming an imploring look.
"I think I will pay you off by keeping still."
"Do tell me what you think it is. I shall not like it if you don't."
Levi would have dived down among the fishes if such had been her will,
and he was compelled to answer,--
"Of course there is only one name for her, and your father must have
chosen that."
"Perhaps not. But why don't you say what you think the name is?"
"Will you tell me if I guess right?"
"I will if you guess right the first time."
"Very well; here goes, then! Her name is the Bessie Watson, to be sure.
There is no other name fit for her."
"No! How absurd you are, Levi Fairfield!" replied Bessie, blushing up
to the eyes.
"No? Why, that ought to be her name, if it isn't. It's the Bessie, the
Bessie Watson, or something of that kind. I know it is. Of course your
father wouldn't think of calling her by any other name."
"It isn't anything of the kind, Levi. I am willing to confess that
father wanted to name her after me, but I wouldn't let him. I wanted
another name."
"I'm sorry you did, for I wanted that name; and I shall not enjoy her
half so much as I should if she had been called after you," replied
Levi, not at all in the tones of gallantly, but in those of simple
truth and sincerity.
"It is very kind of you to say so, and to think so, Levi; but I believe
she has received a better name," added Bessie, not unmoved by the
devotion of the gallant skipper.
"There isn't any better name. I'm really disappointed."
"You will not be when you read her name."
"But what is the name?" asked Levi, seriously.
"The--why, I almost told you!" laughed Bessie.
"I hope it is not a hard name, for sailors make such a fuss about
jaw-breaking words. An old coaster meant to name his vessel the
Amphitrite, but he gave the name of Anthracite to the painter, and it
was duly lettered upon the stern. However, it answered just as well, as
the craft went into the coal trade."
"It isn't a long name, nor a hard one, and I know it will suit you."
"Well, Bessie, if it suits you, it will suit me," added Levi; "though I
did hope she would be called the Bessie."
The Starry Flag sped on her way, and before noon was off Eastern Point.
There were several coasters approaching, but Levi could not make out
the yacht till he examined every craft with the spy-glass.
"I see her!" exclaimed he, as he headed his boat so as to intercept
her.
"Is she handsome?" asked Bessie.
"I can't make her out very well at this distance; but we shall be up
with her in half an hour or so."
Bessie looked through the glass, and so did Mrs. McGilvery, but they
did not obtain much satisfaction. The yacht was making her ten knots,
and in the time Levi had named they were within hailing distance of
her.
"She is a beauty, and no mistake!" exclaimed the skipper, warmly. "She
is pretty enough to be called the Bessie Watson."
"You mustn't say such things, Levi. They are not pretty," said Bessie,
very seriously.
"The yacht is pretty enough, and so is the one she ought to have been
named after," persisted the gallant skipper.
"There it is again! You are real naughty, Levi," pouted she; and
probably, like all pretty girls, she had a distaste for compliments.
"Yacht ahoy!" shouted Levi.
But Mr. Watson had already recognized The Starry Flag, and the yacht
was thrown up into the wind. Levi hauled in his sheet, and sailed in a
graceful curve around the stern of the vessel, intent upon reading the
secret which had been so persistently kept from him.
"Now you will know!" exclaimed Bessie, gazing anxiously into his face
to observe the effect of the discovery upon him.
"Dog-fish and dunderfunk!" ejaculated Levi, as he read the name, "THE
STARRY FLAG!"
"There now, Mr. Skipper! Isn't that the name of all names for her?"
"The Starry Flag!" repeated Levi, as he gazed at the golden letters on
the stern of the yacht.
"Why don't you say something, you absurd skipper? I'm dying to know
what you think of it, and you don't say a word."
"I like it first-rate; but if I had read 'Bessie' there, I should have
liked it better, much as I like it now."
"I couldn't have her named after me! How ridiculous! I'm sorry you
don't like the name."
"But I do like it, Bessie; though you couldn't expect me to like any
other name as well as yours."
"Why, how absurd you are!" replied Bessie, as Levi ran the boat up to
the yacht.
The gangway had been rigged so that the passage from one craft to the
other was an easy matter, even for ladies. Mr. Watson assisted them on
board. One of the hands, who knew the coast, was deputed to take charge
of The Starry Flag, and Levi went on board of the beautiful vessel he
was to command.
"Well, Levi, what do you think of her?" asked Mr. Watson, after they
had walked around the deck, and inspected the cabin and cook-room of
the yacht.
"She is magnificent, sir!" replied Levi. "She is, without exception,
the finest yacht I ever saw, and I have examined a great many."
"I am glad she suits you. How do you like the name?"
"Very much, sir, though if it had been the Bessie, I should have liked
it better."
"I intended to give her that name, but Bessie was contrary, and
insisted that she should be called The Starry Flag, in grateful
remembrance of her trip from the Penobscot. I really appreciate her
motives, and both of us desire to perpetuate the name of your boat by
giving it to the finest yacht that could be built."
"Since it pleases both you and her, I ought to be satisfied with
it--and I am. We have two Starry Flags now, and we may get them mixed."
"The name of your boat shall henceforth be The Starry Flag, Jr.,"
laughed Mr. Watson. "When we say The Starry Flag, we mean the yacht,
and when we say The Starry Flag, Jr., we mean your boat."
The Starry Flag, then, cut her way through the long billows at a rate
which was highly gratifying to the embryo captain, who, prompt to his
instincts, had taken the helm, when he had examined her. He declared
that she steered splendidly, and he was sure she would prove to be a
good sea-boat. In a short time she came to anchor off Mike's Point. The
steward had prepared a lunch for the party, and they sat down at the
table as soon as the yacht swung round to her cable.
"Now, Levi, you must get a crew for your vessel. These men, with the
exception of the cook and steward, will return to Boston this
afternoon," said Mr. Watson.
"Are the crew to leave her?"
"I only engaged them to bring her down, for I thought that you would
prefer to select your own hands."
"I should," replied Levi, thinking what young men he could procure.
"We shall be ready to start on our cruise to the eastward in three or
four days," added Mr. Watson.
"I will be ready, sir."
By the time the lunch was disposed of, The Starry Flag, Jr. had
arrived, and Levi landed the party. He was anxious to engage his crew,
and he ran the boat over to her moorings. On the rocks he found Dock
Vincent, who had been observing the yacht.