THE CAPTAIN AND INEZ
The steamer _Polynesia_ was steaming swiftly across the Pacific, in
the direction of Japan--bravely plunging out into the mightiest
expanse of water which spans the globe, and heading for the port that
loomed up from the ocean almost ten thousand miles away.
Although but a few days out, little Inez had become the pet of the
whole ship. She was full of high spirits, bounding health--a laughing,
merry sprite, who made every portion of the steamer her home, and who
was welcome wherever she went.
To the bronzed and rugged Captain Strathmore she was such a reminder
of his own lost Inez that she became a second daughter to him, and
something like a pang stirred his heart when he reflected upon his
arrival at his destination and his parting from the little one.
Inez, as nearly as the captain could gather, had been living for
several years with her uncle and aunt in San Francisco, from which
port her parents had sailed a considerable time before. The stranger
gave a very common name as his own--George Smith--and said he would
await the return of the _Polynesia_ with great anxiety, in order to
learn the particulars of the arrival of his niece in Japan.
However, the captain did not allow his mind to be annoyed by any
speculations as to the past of the little girl; but he could not avoid
a strong yearning which was growing in his heart that something would
turn up--something possibly in the shape of a social revolution or
earthquake--that would place the little girl in his possession again.
And yet he trembled as he muttered the wish.
"How long would I keep her? I had such a girl once--her very
counterpart--the sweet Inez, my own; and yet she is gone, and who
shall say how long this one shall be mine?"
The weather remained all that could be wished for a number of days
after steaming out of the Golden Gate. It was in the month of
September, when a mild, dreamy languor seemed to rest upon everything,
and the passage across the Pacific was like one long-continued dream
of the Orient--excepting, perhaps, when the cyclone or hurricane,
roused from its sleep, swept over the deep with a fury such as strews
the shores with wrecks and the bottom with multitudes of bodies.
What more beautiful than a moonlight night on the Pacific?
The _Polynesia_ was plowing the vast waste of waters which separates
the two worlds, bearing upon her decks and in her cabins passengers
from the four quarters of the globe.
They came from, and were going to, every portion of the wide world.
Some were speeding toward their homes in Asia or Africa or the islands
of the sea; and others living in Europe or America, or the remote
corners of the earth, would finally return, after wandering over
strange places, seeing singular sights, and treading in the footsteps
of the armies who had gone before them in the dim ages of the past.
Now and then the great ship rose from some mighty swell, and then,
settling down, drove ahead, cleaving the calm water and leaving a wide
wake of foam behind. The black smoke poured out of the broad funnels,
and sifted upward through the scant rigging, and was dissipated in the
clear air above. The throbbing of the engine made its pulsations felt
through the ponderous craft from stem to stern, as a giant breathes
more powerfully when gathering his energy for the final effort of the
race. A few drifting clouds moved along the sky, while, now and then,
a starlike point of light, far away against the horizon, showed where
some other caravansary of the sea was moving toward its destination,
thousands of leagues away.
Although Captain Strathmore was on duty, and it was against the rules
for any passenger to approach or address him, yet there was one who
was unrestrained by rules or regulations, no matter how sternly they
were enforced in other cases.
The captain was standing on the bridge, when he felt some one tugging
at his coat, and he looked down.
There was Inez demanding his attention.
"Take me up, pop," said she.
"Bless your heart!" laughed the captain as he obeyed the little
empress; "you would ruin the discipline of a man-of-war in a month."
While speaking, he perched her on his shoulder, as was a favorite
custom with him.
The day had been unusually warm, and the night was so mild that the
steady breeze made by the motion of the steamer was scarcely
sufficient to keep one cool. Little Inez had thrown aside her hat with
the setting of the sun, and now her wealth of golden hair streamed and
fluttered in fleecy masses about her shoulders.
The steamer was plowing straight to the westward, cutting the waves so
keenly that a thin parabola of water continually curved over in front
of her from the knife-like prow.
Perched aloft on the shoulder of the captain, Inez naturally gazed
ahead, and the figure was a striking one of innocence and infancy
peering forward through the mists and clouds toward the unknown
future. But Inez was too young to have any such poetical thoughts,
and the captain was too practical to be troubled by "aesthetic
meditations."
He chatted with her about their arrival in Japan, saying that she
would be glad to see no more of him, when she replied:
"If you talk that way, I'll cry. You must go home and live with us.
Uncle Con says papa has a big dog, and if we haven't room in the
house, you can sleep with him, and I'll feed you each morning--oh,
look!"