The Girl on the Boat

c.

activity going on. Sailors fiddled about with ropes. Junior officers flitted to and fro. White-jacketed stewards wrestled with trunks. Probably the captain, though not visible, was a

ere being seen off by detectives, surely the crowning compliment a great nation can bestow. The cavernous Customs sheds were congested with friends and relatives, and Sam Marlowe, heading for the gang-plank, was only able to make progress by employing all the muscle and energy which Nature had bestowed upon him, and which during the greater part of his life h

nd this puzzled him, for New York crowds, t

to face with an extrao

ad a catholic taste in feminine eyes. So long as they were large and bright, as were the specimens under his immediate notice, he was not the man to quibble about a point of colour. Her nose was small, and on the very tip of it there was a tiny freckle. H

ttiest. He had an orderly mind, one capable of classifying and docketing girls. But there was a subtle something about her, a sort of how-shall-one-put-it, which he had never encountered before. He swallowed convulsively. His well-developed chest swelled beneath its covering of blue flann

hat was hardly the right spirit. Tha

o sorry!"

, an impulsive girl might bite a man in the arm in the excit

to make Pinky-Boo

h a calibre as to be plainly audible over the confused noise of Mamies who were telling Sadies to be sure and write, of Bills who were instructing Dicks to look up old Jo

of his black nose. "Not counting waiters at the hotel, of course," she added. And then she was swept from him in the crowd, and he was left thin

xhibition! Perhaps he would never see this girl again. She looked the sort of girl who comes to see friends off and doesn't sail her

c.

rds, junior officers, and sailors who infested the deck. He proceeded down the main companion-way, through a rich smell of

towing away all your trunks, you will have room left over to do a bit of entertaining--possibly an informal dance or something. When you go on board, you find that the place has shrunk to the dimensions of an undersized cupboa

hat he had not been so energetic in having his room changed in order to enjoy the company of his cousin Eustace. It was going to be a tight fit. Eustace's bag was already in the cabin, and it seemed to take up the entir

in the passage outs

ustace!"

small, fragile-looking young man with a pale, intellectual face. Dark hair fell in a swe

said, in a h

he had expected something cheerier than this. In fact, he had rather been relying on Eustace to be the life and soul of

h's the matte

art's broken." He eyed with considerable malignity the bottle of water in the rack above his head, a harmless

re to hear the s

ah

quite

t's

ived in America,

y one in the world that really amounts to anything. It was like this.

my story, or wil

rry! Go

the wall, informing occupants of the state-room t

traordinarily

my honest word I never in

that I postponed my narrat

rry! Ca

traordinarily

was he

ligent. I read her all my poems, and she appreciated them immensely. She enjo

a hit. Now get on

me," said Eust

the voyage only t

gotten wh

. What happened? I suppose, when you actually came to p

f he knew, and I was dashed sure my mother would--so we decided to get married without telling anybody. By now," said Eustace, with a morose glance at the port

n you qu

m telling _you_. What happened was this: somehow--I can't make out how--mot

ked his Aunt Adeline, and his cousin's

stace, you mustn't!' and you said 'Very

a word. As far as that goes, she might ne

you mean sh

ched my

your tr

them all to be pressed. She said she knew I never went out in the mornings--I don't as a rule--and they would be back at lunch-time. A fat lot of use that was! I had to be at the church at eleven. Well, I told her I had a most important engagement with a man at eleven, and she wanted to know what it was, and I tried to think of something, but it sounded pretty feeble, and she said I had better telephone to the man a

the g

t I got a letter from her saying that what had happened was all for the best, as she had been thinking it over and had come to the conclusion that she had made a mistake. She said som

lain about t

. She said that she could forgive a

," said Sam, judicially. "She

ever written rather went out of its way to boost women, and now I'll have to start all over again and approach the subject from another angle. Women! When I think how m

nothing of this. But then he generally confined

ou ass! Anc

long ago

out. 'Who was't betrayed the Capitol? A woman. Who lost Marc Anthony the world? A woman. Who was the cause o

a way. As regards some women, I mea

al exterior of some dashed girl you have been fool enough to get attracted by, go and tell it to the captain or the ship's cat or J. B. Midgeley. Do try to realise that I am a soul

they open the bar directly we pass the t

ook his he

the vessel begins to move, I go to bed and stay there. As a matter of fact, I think i

een mistaken in thinking that you were goi

pulling a pair of mauve pyjamas out of

re. A slight tremor in the boards on which he trod told him that this separation must have already taken place. The ship was moving. He ran lightly up the companion. Was she on board or was she not? The next few minutes would decide. He reached the top

o stop and stare at a blank window on which were inscribed the words, "Watch this space!" In short, he was one of Nature's rubbernecks, and to dash to the rail and shove a fat man in a tw

in a blue jersey. He wore a bowler hat, and from time to time, as he battled with the

ad met on the dock. She was standing a few feet away, leaning out over the rail wi

this girl. What would she not think of a man who, reckless of his own safety, dived in and went boldly to the rescue? And there

sprang. His full weight took Sam squarely in the spine. There was an instant in which that young man hung, as it were, between sea and sky: then he shot down over the rail

c.

r, should, I am aware, go always forward. It should march. It should leap from crag to crag like the chamois of the Alps. If there is one thing I hate, it is a novel which gets you interested in the hero in chapter one and then cuts back in chapter two to tell you all about his gran

The girl uttered a little cry of dismay. Then suddenly her face brightened, and she began to wave her arm to attract the attention of an elderly

a bundle of currency bills in it, backed to give himself room, and then, with all the strength of his arm, hurled the bills in the direction of the deck. The handkerchief with its precious contents shot in a graceful arc towar

ecarious livelihood by rowing dreamily about the water-front in skiffs. He was doing so now: and, as he sat meditatively in his skiff, having done his best to give the liner a good send off by paddling round her in circles, the pleading face of a twenty-dol

im under again: and, rising for a second time, he observed with not a little chagrin t

vent of this newcomer. He had been getting along fine and had had the situation well in hand. To him Sam Marlowe represented Competition,

cup which he had won at school in the "Saving Life" competition. He knew exactly what to do. You get behind the victim and grab him firmly under his arms, and then you start swimming on your back. A moment later, the astonished Mr. Swenson who, being practically amphibious, had not anticipated that anyone would have the cool impertinence to try to save him from drowning, found himself seized from behind and towed vigorously away from a ten-dollar bill whi

who is being lugged away from cash which he has been regarding in the light of a legacy. Indeed, it would be hard to find a respect in which it does not differ. So far from lying inert in Sam's arms and allowing himself to be saved in a quiet and orderly manner, Mr. Swenson betrayed all the symptoms of one who feels that he has fallen among murderers. Mr. Swenson, much as he disliked competition, was ready to put up with it, provided

on, though, if he had known that gentleman more intimately and had been aware that he had the reputation of possessing the thickest head on the water-front, he would have realised the magnitude of the task. Friends of Mr. Swenson, in convivial moments, had freque

his gloomiest apprehensions. Now thoroughly convinced that the only thing to do was to sell his life dearly, he wrenched

irritated him unspeakably. This, he felt, was just the silly, contrary way things always happened. Why should it be he who was perishing like this? Why not Eustace

could count seven distinct legs twined round him and at least as many arms. It seemed to him that he was being done to death in his prime by a solid platoon of Swedes. He put his whole soul into one last effort ... something seemed to give ... he was free. Pausing

not escaped the notice of these navigators, and they had gone to it as one man. First in the race came the tug "Reuben S. Watson," the skipper of which, following a famous precedent, had taken his little daughter to bear him company. It was to this fact that Marlowe really owed his rescue. Women often have a vein

aged in the complicated process of restoring his faculties to the normal. In a sort of dream he perceived Mr. Swenson rise to the surface some feet away, adjust

he wanted to do something, a vague feeling that he had some sort of an appointment which he must keep; but he was unable to think what it wa

her wet?" s

y. Of the rest of the family all he could see was the broad blue seats of t

yone so wet! I seen wet guys but I never seen any

et," admi

the word all right. Good an

clouded; he wished he could remember what that

reed the girl. She looked at him inter

it f

hat ship? I didn't see it myself, but pa says you come

sharp cry. He

e is

re's

lin

guess. She was swinging rou

s not

over to the other side, ain't she? Cert'nly she's gone." Sh

ourse

wotcha doin' walloping off'n

g to his feet and looked wildly about him. "I mus

r at quarantine out in the bay. S

ake me to

lly at the seat of the n

ways, and right now he's fishing for dollar bills with th

ty dollars if he'l

her share of sentiment, but she was her father's

et book. The book was dripping, but

said t

ined where it was, de

mmere!

nvenient to her hand. It was long, solid, and constructed of one of the harder forms of wood. Deftly extracting this from its

ok aboard the boat at quarantine

had been poor, and so far he had only managed to secure a single two-dollar bill. In a cris

y ber

he girl assured

skipper simply, "y

iner as it lay towering over the tug like a mountain. His

who was smoking a cigar by the

you're very

e and hurried through the door

n wet?" cried the clear

y, leaping do

wet!" said a steward in the

said a stewarde

he lounge. In the lower berth Eustace Hignett was lying

said. "I say

c.

ed upon him. Happily, at this point, a sudden shivering of the floor and a creaking of woodwork proclaimed the fact that the vessel was unde

sudden exclamation caused him to look up, and the scowl was wiped from his brow as with a sponge. For t

ou?" asked the g

, thanks,

you get

et a lit

like a parrot. "Directly I saw you go over the side

was a

he girl. "Ma

rlo

e. Mr. Brea

young man. The youn

t behind," said

, ne

etting lef

N

ose a lot of time," said Mr. M

intellectual exchanges with i

Bre

el

he saloon and see if it's all r

t. The table st

go and mak

rig

he girl turned to Sa

might have been drowned! But I never saw anything so wonderful. It was l

emblance had not struck him. It seemed a

r Galahad would have done! But you shouldn't

s all ri

a hurry. Father's head clerk was to have gone to the bank and got some money and met me on board and given it to me, but the silly old man was late and when he got to the

never expected to feel grateful to that obese bounder who had shoved him off

e the bravest

, n

But I suppose all b

at what looked like a chan

o admire presence of mind. You didn't hesitate for a second. You jus

the knack of keeping one's head and acting quickly on th

nk! As Bream

g suddenly. "I saw a couple of the stewards and th

aid the girl.

el

o my state-room and see if Pink

nd t

y be feeling lonely. C

irr

o cheer

all r

alo

that he only needs a peaked cap and a uniform two sizes

" resumed the girl, "you m

s the thought that tortured me, the thought

e have never spoken to

rgotten? On

tenment came

e man poor Pink

lucky

ace c

motion of the boat a litt

Pinky who first brought us together.

getting back to my room to finish

By the way, you kn

nny that a person's name is the last thin

nne

ds," she said softly as she t