The waiters were just beginning to set the tables for breakfast in the
"saloon" beneath the broad skylight. The crew had ceased the morning
"squilgeeing" and swabbing forward, and were busy stowing away mops,
buckets and brooms. One or two passengers had crawled up the companion
way and dropped into seats amidships, staring in envy, if not
disapproval, at the swinging stride of the young officer whose cheeks
were beginning to glow again with the flush of health, and Pancha,
clinging to her perch at the stern, after following him with her eyes
far up the deck until she knew he had almost reached the point where he
suddenly faced about in his swift march, again resolutely turned her
back upon the Idaho and all that appertained to her, and found herself
for the fortieth time gazing out over the glistening wake, and for the
first time with a thrill of excitement. The taut trolling line was
snapping and swaying, and far astern something gleaming in the slant of
the sunshine came springing into view from the crest of a wave, then
diving into the depths of the next and darting to right and left beneath
the heaving waters--a dolphin! a beauty! she knew in an instant, and
grasping the cord she strove with all her strength to haul in. For a
second or two it came readily enough, then with sudden jerk, whizzed
taut again, as the game victim made a magnificent dash for liberty.
Again she laid hold and, bracing her slender feet, threw her whole
weight on the line and pulled away; again with only temporary success,
for the dolphin only shook himself and struggled, but suddenly darting
forward, he as suddenly slackened the line and Pancha, who had been
pulling for dear life with set teeth and straining muscles, fell
suddenly back and was spared a hard tumble only by a pair of strong,
clasping arms that quickly righted, if they did not as quickly release,
her, and Pancha, furiously blushing, excitedly panting, could only show
her white teeth one instant as she fluttered out a faint "Gracias" and
wriggled out of the gentleman's embrace, then with the instinct of her
sport-loving race, grabbed again for the line and now there was seasoned
muscle behind her, and the dolphin knew he had met his master. Hand over
hand they pulled away, five, ten, fifteen fathoms, and the dripping cord
curled upon the deck, and at last the gleaming beauty of the Pacific
seas came leaping into view and swinging at the stern, and then Pancha,
with sparkling eyes and eagerly flushing cheeks, ducked out of the way
as Loring skillfully swung her prize aboard and sent the magnificent
fellow gasping and flapping upon the deck.
And so at last the spell was broken. He had spoken slowly and with grave
kindness in his modulated voice a few words of the stately and sonorous
tongue she loved, and now in the fresh, sweet air of the morning, in the
gladness of the ocean breeze and the heyday of life and youth, these two
stood there at the taffrail of the Idaho, she so slender, dark and
willowly, he almost Saxon in his blue-eyed, fair-haired, fair-skinned
manliness, alone with each other and their prize. The child who had
fainted at sight of him less than a week agone, was peeping shyly up at
him now, and thinking how good a face was that, so fresh and fair and
strong, with its smooth-shaven chin and cheeks, its round white throat,
and the flawless teeth that glistened under the curling mustache
whenever he opened his lips to speak, and that showed so seldom at any
other time. Not until this moment had she ever seen him smile.
The fringe of her Mexican _rebosa_ had caught the button of his
snugly-fitting sack coat, and it needed her deft, slim fingers to
release it. Then in its frantic struggles the dolphin threatened to
spring back to its native element, and Loring had to head him off and
thrust him to the middle of the deck again, close to the skylight of the
"saloon," and there he bade her come and watch the vivid, swiftly
changing, iridescent hues of the beautiful creature, and she obediently
drew near and stood bending over in mingled triumph and compassion.
"_Ah, que es bonito!_" she sighed, as the frantic leapings seemed to
cease and the prize lay gasping at full length, exhausted by the
violence of the long battle. Presently Loring called the steward to send
up for the Señorita's captive, and to serve it at the Señorita's table
for breakfast, and then perhaps he might have returned to his solitary
walk, but the study of Spanish is never more fascinating than when rosy
lips and pearly teeth are framing the courtly phrases. Whatever the
cause of her agitation the night of the meeting, whatever his
preconceived idea of her complicity in the scheme that robbed him of his
guard at Gila Bend and laid him low in the dust of the desert, Loring
found, as the result of five days observance and reflection, that his
original views had given place to doubt, and doubt at last to confidence
in her utter innocence. Knowing what ordeal was before him at the end of
the voyage, he had studiously avoided her, but now avoidance was no
longer possible. For a few moments they stood there, saying little, for
he was not practiced in the speech of Spanish, and at any time his words
were few, and then he asked her if she would not like to walk. When
Turnbull clambered up the stairway just as the breakfast gong was
banging, he was amazed to find the Engineer and Pancha, arm in arm,
pacing swiftly up and down the deck in perfect step and apparently in as
perfect accord, the girl's delicate face lighted up with a glow that was
not all of exercise, her wonderful eyes looking frankly into Loring's
fine, thoughtful face, her free hand gesticulating eagerly as she
chattered blithely, almost ceaselessly, for Loring was a flattering
listener to men or women, old or young. It was a transfigured maiden
that met the sisters De la Cruz as they ventured from their staterooms
to the table. Even Inez, their boasted beauty, looked sallow and wan
beside her radiant cousin, and the fat duenna, their aunt, gazed in
mingled astonishment and disapproval at the sight. But Pancha was the
heroine of the day. Pancha's hand had caught the dolphin, and the
captain showered his loud congratulations, the purser handed her to her
seat, and would gladly have sidled into the chair of Señor Sepulvida,
who had come aboard with them at Guaymas and kept his berth until the
previous evening, yet now came forth to face the gathering company at
breakfast. The skipper had placed the stout señora at his own right,
with Turnbull just beyond her. To Señorita Inez he had given the
left-hand seat, with Loring on her other side, and Señorita Carmen just
beyond him. So there was the Engineer flanked by damsels said to enjoy
no little wealth and social station, yet his blue eyes ever wandered
over across and further down the table where sat Pancha with a stuffy
old cigar merchant between her and their party, and that scape-grace,
Sepulvida, ogling on the other hand. Two, at least, of that reassembling
company deserved their appetites at breakfast. But Turnbull had no zest
for anything, and the women generally only feebly toyed with their
forks. The colonel had found time to seize Loring by the arm and
whisper to him on the stairs:
"By Jove, young man, you're playing a deep game! D'you expect to find
out anything?"
"I have--already," said Loring.
"The devil you have! What?"
"She's innocent--utterly!"
And that bright morning was followed by a cloudless afternoon and a
sweet, still, starlit evening, and by this time all men and all women
were on deck, and the Idaho was foaming swiftly on through the summer
seas, and people went below reluctantly at night, and woke to new and
brighter life on the morrow; and Loring was up with the sun and drinking
deep draughts of old ocean's ozone, as he paced the decks till Pancha
came. And one day followed another, and Turnbull read and yawned and
dozed and tried to talk to the charming señoritas, but couldn't muster
enough Castilian, and Traynor chalked the decks for "horse billiards"
and shuffleboard, and everybody took a hand at times, and one evening,
despite the havoc moist salt air plays with catgut, Pancha's guitar and
that of the purser were brought into requisition, and Pancha was made to
sing, a thing she didn't do too well as yet, and Pancha knew it without
asking when she looked in Loring's eyes, and no power or persuasion
could make her try again--until long, long after.
They were having now an ideal voyage, so far as wind and weather were
concerned, but the Señoritas de la Cruz declared it the stupidest they'd
ever known, and the officers--_los Americanos_--the least attentive or
attractive of those with whom they had ever sailed. And everybody seemed
to long for the sight of the green headlands of the Golden Gate and the
terraced slopes of San Francisco--all save two; Pancha, to whom the
ending of that voyage meant the ending of the sweetest days her life had
ever known, and the beginning of a school drudgery she dreaded, and
Loring, to whom the return to San Francisco meant the taking up anew of
a tangled case that had become hateful to him, to whom there was the
prospect of a meeting that he would gladly avoid, to whom there was
coming an inevitable parting, the thought of which oppressed him
strangely, and he could not yet tell why.
The marvelous green of the California bluffs spanned the horizon for
miles on their starboard hand one radiant afternoon as they went below
to the captain's dinner, the last before reaching port. The sunshine had
been brilliant all the day, yet there came a chilly, shivering air
toward two o'clock, and the first officer shrugged his shoulders and
looked dubiously ahead, but gave no other sign. Gaily they drank the
skipper's health and pledged the Idaho in her best champagne. Long they
lingered over the table and laughter, jest and song and story enlivened
the hours that came to an end at last, and Pancha stole her little hand
within Loring's arm for the last starlight walk along the now familiar
decks, and lo, when they issued from the brightly-lighted saloon the
stars were gone, the steamer was forging ahead through a chill mist that
grew thicker with every moment, and as half-speed was ordered and the
mournful notes of the whistle groaned out throbbingly over the leaden
sea, she swayed uneasily over a heavy ground swell that careened her
deeper and deeper as the mist thickened to fog, and oilskins and
sou'westers came out and dark figures went dripping about the decks, and
Loring fetched his uniform cape from below and muffled in it Pancha's
slender form, and for awhile they tottered up and down, then abandoned
the attempt to walk, and settled in their chairs at the end of the
bench, just where she had sat and clung to the white stanchion and
sobbed her heart out that night in Guaymas Bay. _Ay de mi_--Pancha could
have sobbed almost as hard, though no longer in loneliness and
desolation--this very night.
As early as 9.30 Señora Valdez had gone below, following her lovely
nieces, and warning Pancha to come at once. It was too dark, too damp to
remain there longer, but Loring begged, and the Idaho lurched and rolled
sympathetically at the moment and the duenna found further argument
impossible. She had to rush for her room, and later to confide her
mandates as to Pancha to the stewardess, who came, peeped, and
considered them ill-timed. At six bells Turnbull and a few determined,
yet uncomfortable souls were consuming cognac and playing _vingt et un_
in the cabin, while the lookouts were doubled on the deck and every
ship's officer stood to his post. The sound of the muffled tinkle of the
bell roused Pancha from the silence that had fallen on the pair.
"I must go," she murmured for perhaps the twentieth time, and yet she
could not.
Once more, mournful, moaning, the deep-toned whistle poured forth its
warning on the night, and before the long blast had died away, up from
the depths of the dense fog bank ahead arose an echo, accentuated with
sharp, staccato shrieks. Then came a sudden, startling cry at the bow;
then deep down in the bowels of the ship the clang of the engine gong;
then, shouts, and rushings to and fro at the hidden forecastle; and
Loring started to his feet only to be hurled headlong to the deck, for,
with fearful shock, some mammoth monster struck and pierced and heeled
to port the stanch little coaster, and then, withdrawing from the
fearful rent in her quarter, came crushing and grinding down the side,
sweeping away every boat that hung at the starboard davits, ripping
through the shrouds like pack-thread, and rolling and wallowing off
astern amid a pandemonium of shouts for aid, and frantic screams of
startled women. In one minute the great steamer had vanished as suddenly
as she came, and the Idaho was settling by the bows. A signal rocket
tore aloft to tell the tale of desperate peril.
"Stand by us, Santiago! Don't you see you've cut us down?" bellowed the
captain through his trumpet. Again the steam-pipe roared and the
mournful whistle crooned the death song. No answering signal came to
cheer their hearts with hope of rescue. The great Pacific mailer was
lost in the fog full half a mile away. The crew came rushing up on deck,
reporting everything under water below. There was a mad dash of
fear-crazed men for the boats, discipline and duty both forgotten.
Over the first officer's prostrate form they sprang at the "falls" of
the sternmost--the longboat, a huge, bearded seaman in the lead. The
captain, with fury in his eye, leaped in the way, shouting blasphemy and
orders to go back, and was knocked flat with a single blow. The brawny
hand had seized the swaying tackle and three seamen were already
scrambling into the swinging craft when a revolver cracked; the big
leader threw up his hands with a yell of agony and toppled headlong upon
the deck. Then a lithe figure vaulted over the longboat's gunwale. One
after another three seamen came tumbling out abashed and overawed. The
captain regained his feet and senses. The boat was lowered by cooler
hands until it danced in safety on the waves, and one after another the
women were carefully passed down to the care of him whose stern,
clear-headed sense and instant action had proved their sole salvation--a
landsman, Loring of the Engineers.