"ON THE BAY OF BISCAY, O!"
The meal was scarcely over, when there was a perceptible change in the
movement of the steamship, for, no longer sheltered by the Isle of
Wight, they soon discovered that what they had always heard of the
broad English Channel is true, and found it one of the roughest sheets
of water known. Faith soon began to look "white around the gills," as
Mr. Malcolm teasingly informed her, and when she said she "thought she
would go and look after Hafiz," Hope rallied and ridiculed her, well
backed by Dwight, who was a born sailor; but Bess evidently sympathized
with her, and began herself to look wan.
Faith had gone indoors--they were on the forward deck upon which the
captain's cabin, or "library," opened, and Hope had been watching her
zig-zag progress across it, laughing merrily, when, with the suddenness
of a lightning-stroke, everything grew black and began to spin around
her. She looked helplessly at Dwight, whose grinning face was like
that of a whirling dervish, made a little lurch forward, and would have
fallen, but that watchful Mr. Malcolm caught her just in time. He at
once sent a boy for the stewardess, and they soon had the
half-unconscious girl safe inside her own stateroom door, where Faith
looked up drowsily from her little bed to remark,
"Why, what's the matter? Did she get hurt?"
"Oh, no, only faint," returned the woman smiling broadly, while she
unfastened Hope's gown and assisted her upon the other bed. "There's
the pair of you."
"Two fools!" remarked the parrot, with such appropriateness that even
Hope had to join feebly in the woman's jolly laughter, while Faith
plucked up strength to gibe a little in return for her sister's attack
on deck.
"There, now, all you've got to do is to lie still," said the
stewardess, as she turned away. "Why, you little kitten! Where did
you come from?" for Hafiz, curled down snugly by Faith, had just
attracted her notice. "Is he yours, Miss Faith?"
"Yes, Martha. Papa gave him to me, and do let papa know, please, how
sick we are, so that he can look in on us when he has time," she added,
for, unaccustomed to illness, she felt they were almost in danger of
their lives, now.
When, however, a little later, their father peered in with a laughing
face to rally them, and declared in cheery tones that they were "just
getting their sea-legs, and would be good sailors in a day or two,"
they took heart, and both soon drowsed off into hazy slumber. But
neither wanted any dinner that night, and did not attempt much exertion
until late the next day. Hope awoke, feeling much brighter, and felt
that the motion was not so distressing as yesterday. She looked across
at Faith, who lay with closed eyes, pale indeed, but peaceful.
"Are you awake?" she whispered.
"Yes," returned her sister, opening her eyes only to close them at
once. "I'm awake, but it's the queerest thing. So long as I keep my
eyes closed I'm quite comfortable, but when I open them I feel as if I
were in a high swing just ready to tumble out; and when Texas gets to
pitching around in his cage, and hanging fairly upside down, and
whirling around like a crazy thing, it makes me a great deal worse."
Hope laughed.
"Poor Texas! I don't think he's very happy himself. I wonder, are
birds ever seasick, really? I've heard they often mope and die on
shipboard, but is it seasickness?"
"I'm sure I don't know--but let's not talk about it! What time do you
suppose it is, Hope?"
"Oh, somewhere along in the afternoon. Somebody says there's no time
at sea--it's all now. Heigh-ho! I've half a mind to get up and
dress--why-y, what's that?"
Sure enough! Even Faith opened her eyes wide to stare upward, for
there was something sliding through one of the portholes above their
heads, and dropping softly downwards--a small package done up in
crinkly pink paper, and tied neatly about with blue lutestring.
"It's father!" cried Hope, as she scrambled to her knees to peer out,
but she could see nobody on the narrow guards without.
Meanwhile Faith grasped the little packet and began to untie it,
forgetting her illness in her eagerness.
The paper, when opened, disclosed two sea biscuits--the square, thin
kind, like a soda cracker--and upon each was painted a tiny marine view
in water-colors, while beneath was a couplet done in fanciful
lettering. One read,
"Hope for a season bade the world farewell,
And Freedom shrieked--as Kosciusko fell,"
while the other bore the legend,
"Our Faith, a star, shone o'er a rocky height;
The billows rose, and she was quenched in night."
"How absurd! How funny! Who did it?" they cried in concert,
forgetting all ill feelings as they laughed till the tears came.
"It never was father," said Hope, when she could get her voice. "The
dear man couldn't repeat a line of poetry to save his life. That one
about Kosciusko used to be in one of our school speakers, don't you
know?"
"Yes, it's Campbell's." Faith always remembered more accurately than
her sister, while the latter learned more readily. "But who would ever
think of applying it so oddly? The play on our names is bright enough,
but--I'll tell you, I'll tell you! It was that boy--Dwight Vanderhoff.
I just believe it! He is clever, I'm sure, and his uncle could help
him."
"As likely as not--or Mr. Malcolm--but no, I don't believe he would.
He is full of fun, but dignified too, and he never forgets we are the
captain's daughters. It must be that boy! Martha Jordan says he
hasn't been ill a minute, and that he knows everybody on shipboard,
already, and they all like him."
The stewardess was fond of the girls, and in her frequent visits had
brought them every bit of news she could pick up, to lighten their
confinement. She appeared while they were conjecturing, and said,
"Aha! Well, aren't you?"
"Almost," said Faith, as both began telling the story of their package.
Martha appeared much interested, but there was a look on her honest
face that seemed to say she was not so densely ignorant of the matter
as she pretended to be, and, while she assisted them into their long,
flannel-lined ulsters and close caps, for a visit to the upper deck,
where she declared the fresh wind would blow their last qualms away,
they tried to learn just what she did know, but without success.
Giving it up, finally, Hope proposed that they wear the sea-biscuit as
ornaments, and see who should look most conscious when they drew near.
"A good idea! And where is that box of ribbons? Let's find a pink and
blue, if we can."
"Tell me where you put it and I'll look," said Martha, much amused,
and, when found, she punched a hole through one corner of the pasty
squares, and tied each to a button of the ulsters. Hope's was pink,
and Faith's blue.
Thus equipped, she started them up the companion-way, and seeing they
were reasonably firm on their feet, went about her business, chuckling
to herself as if greatly enjoying something. As they appeared above,
they received a merry greeting from their father, who sat chatting with
Mr. Lawrence to leeward of a smokestack, which gave a grateful warmth,
as the day was a typical November one, gray and chill.
Both gentlemen sprang up to offer chairs, and congratulate them upon
their courage in venturing out, and they were barely seated, when up
came Dwight, trying to keep under a most amazing grin that persisted in
stretching his mouth from ear to ear.
"Well, this is good!" he cried, shaking hands with a nourish. "I knew,
if you'd just make a try at it, you'd be all right. If everybody would
stick it out and stay on deck, as I do, there'd be no such thing as
seasickness."
"Oh, the conceit of him!" laughed his uncle. "Stick it out, indeed!
Why, you don't know what it means, you healthy young rascal. You have
the stomach of a goat!"
To divert attention, possibly, Dwight suddenly turned to the girls, and
inspected them with apparent curiosity.
"You seem to be decorated, this afternoon," he remarked in a
non-committal tone, "and got on your pink and blue ribbons, I declare!"
His gaze rested on the sea-biscuit, and he lowered his eyelids to hide
the laugh behind them.
"You didn't know we had decorations on this ship?" asked Hope
teasingly. "Only a few get them. They are for good conduct under
trying conditions. We have been ill, but not disagreeably ill.
There's a difference."
The gentlemen were looking at the painted squares, now, and her father
said, "What's that nonsense, my dear? What are they, anyhow?"
"Just something the stormy petrels dropped through our porthole," said
Faith, gravely taking up the tale. "Aren't they pretty?"
"H'm! Quite so." Mr. Lawrence was also indulging in a long look.
"Did a merman paint them for you? And what sea-king got up that
poetry? It seems well selected, if not entirely original." He glanced
at his nephew quizzically, and added, "I suppose the other name of that
Freedom who shrieked was Dwight, wasn't it? Pretty well, sir, pretty
well! I recognize the work. Your style is original, Mr. Artist
Vanderhoff."
"And didn't you help him one bit, Mr. Lawrence?" asked Faith.
"Did not even know of it, Miss Hosmer."
"Then I call it a mighty smart performance!" cried Hope in a tone of
finality which brought a hearty laugh from the group.
"Clever enough!" decided the captain, as he spelled out the twisted
lines, and chuckled over them. "You're quite an artist, young man. I
remember, a few years back, I had a whole crew of the long-haired
profession aboard, and a jolly, turbulent set they were. They
decorated the ship from stem to gudgeon in all sorts of unexpected
places, and almost disorganized my Lascars, snatching them off duty to
pose as models. I had to threaten to driven 'em below at the rope's
end, and batten down the hatches, to bring them to reason. But they
made fun for us the whole voyage, and I was sorry to see the last of
them at Gibraltar."
The steamer was now in the broad Bay of Biscay, which washes the bold
shores of France and Spain, and the water had that compact hue of dark
azure, with occasional greenish lights, that tells of deep soundings.
As they forged ahead, to the steady drum-beat of the engines, the broad
swirl of water, churned into foam by the great propellers at the stern,
marked their path as far back as the eye could reach. The weather was
fitful, and the sky cleared somewhat toward sunset, but its light was
cold, and threatening clouds hung close upon its edge. The treacherous
weather predicted of the bay might be upon them soon, though as yet it
had been "all plain sailing," as the captain observed.
"It's either here, or on the Indian seas," he said laughingly.
"Somewhere, we'll have to take it! It is not often we get through
without a little shaking up, somewhere. 'Twould scarcely be possible
in so long a voyage."
"About how long does it take you?" asked Mr. Lawrence, lazily watching
the line of faint silvery blue, streaking the horizon.
"Oh, I usually make it inside of thirty days, when our stops aren't too
long," returned the captain. "Of course the P. & O. liners, being
mail-carriers, do it in much less time. But they're built for speed,
and make fewer stops. Then, we tramp steamers always give them the
right of way in harbor--hello!"
He rose to his feet, his keen eyes looking off to starboard, while at
the same instant came a cry from the lookout, "Sail to starboard, aft!"
The others, following the captain's gaze, saw something like a faint
smudge growing on the horizon's line against the faintly tinted hue,
and, even as they watched, it deepened to a waving plume.
"Come!" said he, and they followed him to the bridge, where, giving
each a turn at the glass, they watched the plume until a shape was
attached to it, and it grew into a graceful steamship, its funnels
belching black, and its sails gleaming like shadowy shapes of vapor
till they grew near enough to become defined, and materialized by
nearness.
"It's one of the liners now--a P. & O!" cried the captain with some
excitement. "Isn't she a lady, though? Watch her gait! She's as
steady and swift as the stars in their courses. You'll see her colors
soon."
He sang out an order or two, then turned to answer Faith who, with her
eyes fixed on the rapidly nearing steamer, asked dreamily,
"What does P. & O. stand for, papa?"
"Why, don't you know? For goodness' sake, child, what an odd question
for a seaman's daughter to ask!"
"But I surely don't know. I never heard anything but P. & O. and I
never even thought to ask before."
"Well, it's Peninsular and Oriental, of course--there, see her colors?
Those four triangles in blue, white, yellow, and red, at her masthead.
Watch while we salute her!"
The beautiful courtesy was given and exchanged, the great steamer
passing at so close range that they could see the clustered groups upon
her immense decks, note the fluttering handkerchiefs, and hear their
cheers, in response to those from the "International," ringing faint,
yet clear, across the watery space between.
"That's the 'London,'" said the captain dropping his glass after a
long, admiring gaze, "and, by the way, the old 'London,' a fine,
staunch vessel, was wrecked in this very bay years ago."
They watched the leviathan, with its hundreds of passengers, a long
time, but at length its greater speed carried it from view in the
darkening night, and they were presently reminded, by the signal, that
it was time to dress for dinner.
The "International" would have seemed odd, in many respects, to one
used only to the trans-Atlantic steamers, for, though entirely
officered by English-speaking whites, its crew consisted largely of
Malays and Lascars, while the waiters were mostly Japanese and
Bengalese, wearing a costume compounded of their native gowns and the
white aprons of European waiters. The maids, under Mrs. Jordan, were
also East Indian women, and they were very picturesque in their saris,
or head coverings, of gay colors, with brilliant teeth gleaming out of
their swarthy faces, and eyes like beads for blackness. Even the boys
who answered bell-calls and polished the brasses and the shoes, were
from Soudan or Bombay, and the stokers down in the engine-room were
Seedees, black as the coals they kept flinging into those yawning red
mouths, which made one think of an opening into the great pit of Hades.
These Seedees are as near a salamander as a human being can be,
perhaps, and certainly they will endure heat that would soon kill a
white man. Sometimes, in those southern seas, the temperature of the
furnace-room is something unthinkable, yet they endure it; though, as
soon as their relief appears, they will fling their steaming, and
almost naked, bodies into the scuppers, to let the rush of water wash
them into coolness, once more. It was understood that the girls were
not to visit any of the lower regions of the ship, without the company
of some officer, but Mr. Malcolm was very accommodating, so, matronized
by Mrs. Vanderhoff, her party and the twins managed to peep into nearly
every hole and corner before the voyage was over. Even where they did
not care to go Dwight would penetrate, if by crawling or climbing he
could reach the spot.
Before bedtime the steamer had changed its course to westward, and as
it encountered a stiff head wind its progress was labored and slow.
Most of the passengers early "sought the seclusion that the cabin
grants," as Dwight mockingly observed, but, sheltered in the snug
pilot-house, our girls, with himself and Bess, rode out the "storm," as
Faith called it (though the gray old steersman laughed at the idea),
until a late hour. All day there had been a flock of sea-gulls
following them, and, attracted by the light, they sometimes dashed
against the windows, startling the girls and delighting Dwight. They
will follow a steamer much as a fly does a horse, always keeping at
just about such a distance, though one would think, in their
sky-circling and ocean-dipping, they must lose time occasionally. As
these birds of the sea glide down a billow, then skim lightly up again,
it would seem they must sometimes be caught in the swirl of foam and
borne under, but no! Every time, no matter with what fusilade of spray
the wave breaks, Mr. Seagull rises, lightly triumphant, with not so
much as a silver feather wetted by salt water!
The night grew very dark, and the sea was turbulent. The late
supper--a fourth meal always served on board the "International"--was
something of a scramble, but our young people enjoyed it, as few of the
older passengers were present, and though an occasional fit of
squeamishness disturbed both twins, while Bess had to disappear
suddenly, Dwight ate calmly on of everything offered, with an
equanimity that tickled Joey, and excited the envy of all. The saloons
looked deserted, and only a few mustered for a short look at the light
on Finisterre. After seeing it, our girls decided bed was a good
place, but Faith thought she had scarcely dropped asleep, though hours
had fled, when something seemed to shake her into consciousness, and
Hope's agitated voice whispered, "Oh, what is that?"
It was a hoarse, awful, prolonged bellow, as of some giant ox in sore
distress, and when it would stop, occasionally, faint and far would
come another bellow, mellowed by distance, but sounding unspeakably
eerie and frightsome. A bell, too, seemed to be tolling a knell for
something, and there was a constant rush of feet on deck, mingled with
trumpeted orders and the rattle of cordage. Yet the steamer did not
seem to be pitching about at all, as it was when they retired. Could
they be going down, and were those awful noises calls for help? And
where could they be to have answers coming over the waves like that?
"Oh dear!" sighed Hope. "What can it all mean? Do see if papa is in
his cabin; you're on that side."
"Of course he isn't!" answered her sister, more calmly. "When there's
danger he's always at his post. And do you suppose, if there was real
danger for us, that he wouldn't come and let us know? I can trust my
father!"
"Well, so can I," snapped Hope, so disgusted at this superior tone she
half forgot her fright. "But it might be that he couldn't get to us,
Faith Hosmer! He might be washed overboard."
Something in the idea of her big, cool father being washed off the
decks of this staunch ship somehow amused Faith, who really was not
much alarmed, and she could not help laughing, which gave fresh offense
to her sister, who, breaking into tears, exclaimed, "You're a heartless
girl, and ought to be ashamed!"
"Why, Hope!" A soft arm stole around her neck and a little figure
"cuddled" close. "You're all wrought up, but really I don't think it's
so bad. See how quiet the ship is. I presume we're caught in a fog,
or something. Just as likely as not we're off the light, yet, and that
is a bell-buoy, or something."
"Dear! I'd like to call a bell-boy, and ask," giggled Hope, a bit
hysterical. "Hark! there's papa now."
In an instant the two girls were on their feet peering into the
"library."
"Oh, papa, what is it?" cried Hope.
"What's what, my dear?" coming nearer, and showing himself wrapped in
tarpaulins from head to heels. "D'ye mean that old tooter?" laughing
lightly. "Nothing at all, except that we're in a fog and the horn's
got a chill. Now turn in, quick, before you get one, too, and go to
sleep, dearies; your father's watching."
"Hope," said her sister, after they had lain still a while. "I think
that's a beautiful thought! 'Your father's watching.' It means two
fathers for us, dear, and One of them cannot make a mistake, even in a
fog. Good night and pleasant dreams. I'm going to sleep."
They kissed and curled down contentedly, sleeping like babies all
night. Father was watching!