A DREAM REALIZED
For a moment Drew almost doubted his own eyesight. But there was no
mistake. There could be only one girl like her in the world, he told
himself. She was wearing a simple white dress and her head was bare.
The bright sunshine rioted in her golden hair, and her eyes were
luminous and soft. A wave of color mounted to her forehead as she came
face to face with Allen Drew.
She had turned the corner of the deck house, and they had almost
collided. She stepped back, startled, and Drew collected his scattered
wits sufficiently to lift his hat and apologize.
"I--I beg your pardon," he stammered. "I ought to have been more
careful."
"Oh, it was my fault entirely," she answered graciously. "I shouldn't
have turned the corner so sharply."
What next he might have said Drew never knew, for just then there came
a heavy step and the sound of a jovial voice behind him, and Captain
Hamilton's hand was grasping his.
"So you did manage to come over and get a look at the beauty, did you?
What do you think of her?"
"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" answered Drew fervently.
He might have had a different beauty in mind from that which the
captain had, and perhaps this suspicion occurred to the girl, for the
flush in her cheek became slightly more pronounced. But the
unsuspecting captain was hugely gratified at the tribute, though
somewhat surprise at its ardor.
A glance from the girl reminded the captain of a duty he had overlooked.
"I was forgetting that you two hadn't met," he said. "Drew, this is my
daughter, Miss Hamilton. Ruth, this is Mr. Allen Drew, the young man
I've been telling you so much about lately."
They acknowledged the introduction and for one fleeting, delicious
moment her soft hand rested in his.
So she was Captain Hamilton's daughter! Her name was not Adams! What
a blind trail he had been following!
But Drew's thoughts were interrupted by the girl's voice.
"We have met before, Daddy," Ruth said with a smile. "Don't you
remember my telling you about the young man who came to my aid that day
when I went on an errand for you to the _Normandy_? You remember--the
day I dropped the letters over the side? That was Mr. Drew."
"You don't say!" exclaimed the captain. "And here we've been seeing
each other every day or so and I've never thanked him. Drew, consider
yourself thanked by a grateful father."
They all laughed, and then the captain put his hand on the young man's
shoulder.
"Come into the cabin and let's get that business settled. You'll
excuse us, won't you, Ruth?" he added, turning to his daughter. "We've
got a hundred things to do yet, and we can't afford to lose a minute."
Ruth smilingly assented, and Drew was dragged off, raging internally,
his only comfort being the glance she gave him beneath her lowered
eyelids.
He tried to listen intelligently to the captain's talk and give
coherent answers to his questions. But bind himself down as he would,
his mind and heart were in the wildest commotion.
So she was Captain Hamilton's daughter! Her name was not Adams! The
thought kept repeating itself.
But he had found her now, he wildly exulted. The search that might
have taken years--that even then might not have found her--had come to
an end. He had been formally introduced to her. He need no longer
worship from afar. Her father was his friend. He could see her, talk
to her, listen to her, woo her, and at last win her. Poor fellow! he
was so hard hit he scarcely knew how to conduct himself.
"As I was saying," he heard the captain remarking in a voice that
seemed to be coming from a great distance, "young Parmalee has finally
made up his mind to come with us. His doctor insists that the one
thing he needs just now is a sea voyage. Not the kind that he might
get on an ocean steamer, with its formality and heavy meals and
chattering crowds, but the kind you can get nowhere but on a sailing
craft."
"I suppose you had to tell him just what we were going down there to
look for?" Drew forced himself to say.
"Yes, I did, after putting him on his word of honor never to breathe a
word about the object of the cruise to anybody. I'd as lief have his
word as any one's else bond."
"What did he think about our chances in such an enterprise?"
"Now, there's a thing that rather surprised me," replied the captain.
"To tell the truth, I felt a little sheepish about mentioning the
doubloons to him, for I rather expected him to laugh. But he took it
in dead earnest, and honestly thinks we have a chance."
"Is he perfectly willing, as far as his interest in the schooner goes,
that she shall be used for this purpose?" Drew queried.
"Perfectly. In fact, he was enthusiastic about it. Wouldn't even hear
of any compensation for the use of the vessel. Said he expected to get
his money's worth in the fun he'd have."
"He seems to have a sportsmanlike spirit, all right," commented Drew,
with a smile.
"He surely has," confirmed the captain. "I think you'll like him when
you come to know him."
"How old is he?"
"About your own age I should judge. You're twenty-two, I think I've
heard you say? Parmalee is perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four, but
not more than that."
"Have you got your full crew shipped yet?" Drew inquired, after a pause.
"Well, some of them are aboard," was the answer. "We've got two dozen
in round numbers, but we still need five or six more men before we get
our full quota. Ditty's ashore looking them up now."
"Do you think they're going to suit you?"
"Oh, I've seen better crews and I've seen worse," answered the captain.
"There are some of them whose faces I don't just like, but that's true
in every ship's company. I guess they'll average up all right.
"There's one thing I want to show you," went on the captain, opening
the door of a closet built into the cabin.
Drew looked, and was surprised to see as many as a dozen rifles, as
well as several revolvers and a sheaf of machetes.
"Why, it looks like a small arsenal!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "What
on earth will we want all these for? One might think that we expected
to have a scrap ourselves with pirates on the Spanish Main."
"Not that exactly," said the captain laconically, "but in an enterprise
like ours it's wise to take precautions. 'Better to be safe than be
sorry.' If it's known that we're after treasure, there may be sundry
persons who will take an unwholesome interest in our affairs."
"Do you mean members of the crew?"
"Not necessarily; though they may. It's not likely, for it's probably
nothing but a turtle cay, but there may be people living on the island
where we're going who would seriously dispute our right to take
anything away and might try to stop us. Few of those small islands are
inhabited; still, I'll feel a good deal more comfortable to know that
I've got these weapons stowed away where I can get them at a moment's
notice. By the way, do you know how to shoot?"
"Yes," answered Drew. "I belong to a rifle club, and I'm a fairly good
shot with either a pistol or a gun."
"A useful accomplishment," commented the captain. "You never know when
it may come in handy."
Drew was wild to go on deck again to talk with Ruth. He had scarcely
exchanged three sentences with her, and there were a thousand things he
wanted to say. The time was getting so terribly short! In two days
more he would be sailing away with her father, leaving her behind, and
months might elapse before he could see her again.
It was his eager desire just now to get her interested in him to some
extent, so that she would think of him sometimes while he was away; to
give her some hint of the tumult in his heart; to let her guess
something of the wealth of homage and adoration she had inspired.
Surely, if he could talk with her, she could not fail to see something
of what he felt. And seeing, she might perhaps respond.
"I suppose you'll find it hard to leave your daughter behind?" he
ventured to say.
The captain looked at him in surprise.
"Bless your heart, I'm not going to leave her behind!" he exclaimed.
"She's going with us after those doubloons," and he laughed.