Mrs. Cliff's Yacht Part 19

He had made up a full crew; he had a good sailing-master, and the first mate who had been on the yacht before; everything that he could think of in the way of provisions and stores were on board, and there was nothing to prevent their getting out of the harbor early in the morning.

When Mrs. Cliff stepped on board her yacht, the _Summer Shelter_, her first thought was directed towards her guests of the Synod; and when the mate, Mr. Burdette, had advanced and been introduced to her, she asked him if any of the clergymen had yet appeared.

"They're all aboard, madam," said he--"fourteen of them! They came aboard about seven o'clock, and they stayed in the saloon until about half-past nine, and one of them came to me and said that as they were very tired they thought they'd go to bed, thinking, most likely, as it was then so late you wouldn't come aboard until morning. So the steward showed them their state-rooms, and we had to get one more ready than we expected to, and they're now all fast asleep; but I suppose I could arouse some of them up if you want to see them!"

Mrs. Cliff turned to Burke with an expression of despair on her face.

"What in the world shall I do?" said she. "I wanted to tell them all about it and let them decide, but it would be horrible to make any of them who didn't care to go to get up and dress and go out into this damp night air to look for a hotel!"

"Well," said Burke, "all that's going ash.o.r.e has got to go ash.o.r.e to-night. We'll sail as soon as it is daylight! If I was you, Mrs.

Cliff, I wouldn't bother about them. You invited them to go to the Bahamas, and you're going to take them there, and you're going to send them back the best way you can, and I'm willing to bet a clipper s.h.i.+p against your yacht that they will be just as well satisfied to come back in a regular steamer as to come back in this! You might offer to send them over to Savannah, and let them come up by rail,--they might like that for a change! The way the thing looks to me, madam, you're proposing to give them a good deal more than you promised."

"Well," said Mrs. Cliff, "one thing is certain! I'm not going to turn any of them out of their warm beds this night; and we might as well go to our rooms, for it must be a good deal after ten."

When w.i.l.l.y Croup beheld her little state-room, she stood at the door and looked in at it with rapture. She had a beautiful chamber in Mrs.

Cliff's new house, fully and elegantly furnished, but there was something about this little bit of a bedroom, with all its nautical conveniences, its hooks, and shelves, and racks, its dear little window, and its two pretty berths,--each just big enough and not a bit too big,--which charmed her as no room she had ever seen had charmed her.

The _Summer Shelter_ must have started, Mrs. Cliff thought, before daylight the next morning, for when she was awakened by the motion of the engine it was not light enough to distinguish objects in the room.

But she lay quietly in her berth, and let her proud thoughts mount high and spread wide. As far as the possession of wealth and the sense of power could elevate the soul of woman, it now elevated the soul of Mrs.

Cliff.

This was her own s.h.i.+p which was going out upon the ocean! This was her engine which was making everything shake and tremble! The great screw which was das.h.i.+ng the water at the stern and forcing the vessel through the waves belonged to her! Everything--the smoke-stacks, the tall masts, the nautical instruments--was her property! The crew and stewards, the engineers, were all in her service! She was going to the beautiful island of the sunny tropics because she herself had chosen to go there!

It was with great satisfaction, too, that she thought of the cost of all this. A great deal of money had been paid for that yacht, and it had relieved, as scarcely any other expenditure she would be likely to make could have relieved, the strain upon her mind occasioned by the pressure of her income. Even after the building of her new apartments her money had been getting the better of her. Now she felt that she was getting the better of her money.

By the way the yacht rolled and, at the same time, pitched and tossed, Mrs. Cliff thought it likely that they must be out upon the open sea, or, at least, well down the outer bay. She liked the motion, and the feeling that her property, moving according to her will, was riding dominant over the waves of the sea, sent a genial glow through every vein. It was now quite light, and when Mrs. Cliff got up and looked out of her round window she could see, far away to the right, the towering lighthouses of Sandy Hook.

About eight o'clock she dressed and went out on deck. She was proud of her good sailing qualities. As she went up the companion-way, holding firmly to the bright bra.s.s rail, she felt no more fear of falling than if she had been one of the crew. When she came out on the upper deck, she had scarcely time to look about her, when a man, whom at first sight she took for a stranger, came forward with outstretched hand. But in an instant she saw it was not a stranger,--it was Captain Burke, but not as she had ever seen him before. He was dressed in a complete suit of white duck with gold b.u.t.tons, and he wore a white cap trimmed with gold,--an attire so different from his high silk hat and the furs that it was no wonder that at first she did not recognize their wearer.

"Why, Captain Burke," she cried, "I didn't know you!"

"No wonder," said he; "this is a considerable change from my ordinary toggery, but it's the uniform of a captain of a yacht; you see that's different from what it would be if I commanded a merchant vessel, or a liner, or a man-of-war!"

"It looks awfully cool for such weather," said she.

"Yes," said the Captain, "but it's the proper thing; and yachts, you know, generally cruise around in warmish weather. However, we're getting south as fast as we can. I tell you, madam, this yacht is a good one!

We've just cast the log, and she's doing better than fourteen knots an hour, and we haven't got full steam on, either! It seems funny, madam, for me to command a steamer, but I'll get used to it in no time. If it was a sailing-vessel, it wouldn't be anything out of the way, because I've studied navigation, and I know more about a s.h.i.+p than many a skipper, but a steam yacht is different! However, I've got men under me who know how to do what I order them to do, and if necessary they're ready to tell me what I ought to order!"

"I don't believe there could be a better captain," said Mrs. Cliff, "and I do hope you won't take cold! And now I want to see the ministers as soon as they are ready. I think it will be well for me to receive them up here. I am not sure that I remember properly the names of all of them, but I shall not hesitate to ask them, and then I shall present each one of them to you: it will be a sort of a reception, you know!

After that we can all go on pleasantly like one family. We will have to have a pretty big table in the saloon, but I suppose we can manage that!"

"Oh yes," said Mr. Burke; "and now I'll see the steward and tell him to let the parsons know that you're ready to receive them."

About a quarter of an hour after this the steward appeared on deck, and approaching Mrs. Cliff and the Captain, touched his hat. "Come to report, sir," said he, "the ministers are all sea-sick! There ain't none of them wants to get out of their berths, but some of them want tea."

Mrs. Cliff and the Captain could not help laughing, although she declared it was not a laughing matter.

"But it isn't surprising," said the Captain; "it's pretty rough, and I suppose they're all thorough-bred landsmen. But they'll get over it before long, and when they come on deck it's likely it will be pleasanter weather. We're having a considerable blow just now, and it will be worse when we get farther out! So I should say that you and Miss Croup and myself had better have our breakfast."

The steward was still standing by, and he touched his hat again, this time to Mrs. Cliff.

"The other lady is very sea-sick! I heard her groaning fearfully as I pa.s.sed her door."

"Oh, I must go down to w.i.l.l.y," said Mrs. Cliff. "And, Captain, you and I will have to breakfast together."

As Mrs. Cliff opened the door of w.i.l.l.y Croup's state-room, a pale white face in the lower berth was turned towards her, and a weak and trembling voice said to her, "Oh, Sarah, you have come at last! Is there any way of getting me out of this horrible little hole?"

For two days Mrs. Cliff and Captain Burke breakfasted, dined, and supped by themselves. They had head-winds, and the sea was very rough, and although the yacht did not make the time that might have been expected of her in fair weather, she did very well, and Burke was satisfied. The two stewards were kept very busy with the prostrate and dejected members of the Synod, and Mrs. Cliff and the stewardess devoted their best efforts to the alleviation of the woes of w.i.l.l.y, which they were glad to see were daily dwindling.

They had rounded Cape Hatteras, the sea was smoother, the cold wind had gone down, and w.i.l.l.y Croup, warmly wrapped up, was sitting in a steamer chair on deck. The desire that she might suddenly be transferred to Plainton or to heaven was gradually fading out of her mind, and the blue sky, the distant waves, and the thought of the approaching meal were exercising a somewhat pleasurable influence upon her dreamy feeling, when Captain Burke, who stood near with a telescope, announced that the steamer over there on the horizon line was heading south and that he had a notion she was the _Antonina_, the vessel on which s.h.i.+rley had sailed.

"I believed that we could overhaul her!" said he to Mrs. Cliff. "I didn't know much about her sailing qualities, but I had no reason to believe she has the speed of this yacht, and, as we're on the same course, I thought it likely we would sight her, and what's more, pa.s.s her. We'll change our course a little so that we will be closer to her when we pa.s.s."

Mrs. Cliff, who had taken the gla.s.s, but could not see through it very well, returned it to the Captain and remarked, "If we can go so much faster than she does, why can't we take Mr. s.h.i.+rley on board when we catch up to her?"

"I don't know about that," said Burke. "To do that, both vessels would have to lay to and lose time, and she might not want to do it as she's a regular steamer, and carries the mail. And besides, if s.h.i.+rley's under orders,--that is, the same thing as orders,--to go straight to Jamaica, I don't know that we have any right to take him off his steamer and carry him to Na.s.sau. Of course, he might get to Jamaica just as soon, and perhaps sooner, if he sailed with us, but we don't know it! We may be delayed in some way; there're lots of things that might happen, and anyway, I don't believe in interfering with orders, and I know s.h.i.+rley doesn't either. I believe he would want to keep on. Besides, we don't really know yet that that's the _Antonina_."

A couple of hours, however, proved that Captain Burke's surmise had been correct, and it was not long before the two vessels were abreast of each other. The yacht had put on all steam and had proved herself capable of lively speed. As the two vessels approached within hailing distance, Captain Burke went up on the little bridge, with a speaking-trumpet, and it was not long before s.h.i.+rley was on the bridge of the other steamer, with another trumpet.

To the roaring conversation which now took place, everybody on each vessel who was not too sick, who had no duties, or could be spared from them, listened with the most lively interest. A colloquy upon the lonely sea between two persons, one upon one vessel and the other upon another, must always be an incident of absorbing importance.

Very naturally s.h.i.+rley was amazed to find it was his friend Burke who was roaring at him, and delighted when he was informed that the yacht was also on its way to Jamaica to meet Captain Horn. After a quarter of an hour of high-sounding talk, during which s.h.i.+rley was informed of Burke's intention to touch at Na.s.sau, the interview terminated; the _Summer Shelter_ shaping her course a little more to the south, by night-fall the _Antonina_ had faded out of sight on the northeast horizon.

"I shouldn't wonder," said Captain Burke at dinner, "if we got to Jamaica before her anyway, although we're bound to lose time in the harbor at Na.s.sau."

The company at the dinner-table was larger than it had yet been. Five members of the Synod had appeared on deck during the speaking-trumpet conversation, and feeling well enough to stay there, had been warmly greeted and congratulated by Mrs. Cliff. The idea of a formal reception had, of course, been given up, and there was no need of presenting these gentlemen to the Captain, for he had previously visited all of his clerical pa.s.sengers in their berths, and was thus qualified to present them to Mrs. Cliff as fast as they should make their appearance. At dinner-time two more came into the saloon, and the next morning at breakfast the delegation from the Synod were all present, with the exception of two whose minds were not yet quite capable of properly appreciating the subject of nutrition.

When at last the _Summer Shelter_ found herself in the smoother waters and the warmer air of the Gulf Stream, when the nautilus spread its gay-colored sail in the sunlight by the side of the yacht, when the porpoises flashed their s.h.i.+ning black bodies out of the water and plunged in again as they raced with the swiftly moving vessel, when great flocks of flying-fish would rise into the air, skim high above the water, and then all fall back again with a patter as of big rain-drops, and the people on the deck of the _Summer Shelter_ took off their heavy wraps and unb.u.t.toned their coats, it was a happy company which sailed with Mrs. Cliff among the beautiful isles of the West Indies.

CHAPTER XXIII

w.i.l.l.y CROUP COMES TO THE FRONT

The pleasant rays of the semi-tropical sun so warmed and subsequently melted the varied dispositions of the company on board the _Summer Shelter_ that in spite of their very different natures they became fused, as it were, into a happy party of friends.

w.i.l.l.y Croup actually felt as if she were a young woman in a large party of gentlemen with no rivals. She was not young, but many of her youthful qualities still remained with her, and under the influence of her surroundings they all budded out and blossomed bravely. At the end of a day of fine weather there was not a clergyman on board who did not wish that Miss Croup belonged to his congregation.

As for the members of the Synod, there could be no doubt that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Tired with the long winter's work, and rejoiced, almost amazed, to be so suddenly freed from the cold wintry weather of their homes, all of their spirits rose and most of their hearts were merry.

There were but few gray heads among these clergymen, and the majority of them were under middle age. Some of them had been almost strangers to each other when they came on board, but now there were no strangers on the _Summer Shelter_. Some of them had crossed the Atlantic, but not one had ever taken a coastwise voyage on a comparatively small vessel, and although the consequence of this new experience, their involuntary seclusion of the first days of the trip, and their consequent unconventional and irregular acceptance of Mrs. Cliff's hospitality, had caused a little stiffness in their demeanor at first, this speedily disappeared, hand in hand with the recollection of that most easily forgotten of human ills which had so rudely interfered with their good manners.

As far as the resources of their portmanteaus would allow, these reverend clergymen dressed themselves simply and in semi-nautical costumes. Some played quoits upon the upper deck, in which sport w.i.l.l.y joined. Others climbed up the shrouds, preferably on the inside,--this method of exercise, although very difficult, being considered safer in case of a sudden lurch of the vessel. And the many other sportive things they did, and the many pleasant anecdotes they told, nearly all relating to the discomfiture of clergymen under various embarra.s.sing circ.u.mstances, caused Captain Burke to say to Mrs. Cliff that he had never imagined that parsons were such jolly fellows, and so far as he was concerned, he would be glad to take out another party of them.

"But if we do," he said, "I think we'd better s.h.i.+p them on a tug and let them cruise around the Lights.h.i.+p for two or three days. Then when they hoisted a signal that they were all well on board, we could go out and take them off. In that way, you see, they'd really enjoy a cruise on the _Summer Shelter_."

As the sun went down behind the distant coast of Florida they were boarded by a negro pilot, and in the morning they awoke to find themselves fast to a pier of the city of Na.s.sau, lying white in the early daylight.