CHAPTER XII
A SATISFACTORY OUTLOOK
Drew was transported with delight, but he threw a certain carelessnessinto his tone as he observed:
"I remember. Does she know what we're going for?"
"Oh yes," replied her father. "She and I are great chums, and I don'tkeep anything from her. She wanted to go with me anyway when I wasthinking of taking on a cargo for Galveston, and now that she knowstreasure is in the wind, she's more eager than ever. You know howromantic girls are, and she's looking forward with immense pleasure tothis unusual venture of ours."
Drew would have liked to ask whether the captain's wife were going too,but he felt that he might be treading on delicate ground, so he used around-about method.
"I don't suppose there'll be any other women in the company?" he saidlightly.
"No," replied the captain, a little soberly. "When my wife was aliveshe used to go with me occasionally on my voyages. The schooner'snamed for her. But she's been dead for three years now, and as Ruth isthe only child I have, she and I will be thrown together more closelythan ever. She's finished school.
"But I'm keeping you," he added, rising from the table at which theyhad been sitting; "and I suppose you've got more work on your handsthan you know how to attend to."
Drew rose with alacrity.
"I am pretty busy, for a fact," he assented. "That accident to Mr.Grimshaw has just about doubled my work. But it isn't getting theupper hand of me, and by the time we are ready to sail I'll have tiedall the lose ends."
"That's good. By the way, speaking of Tyke, how did you find him thismorning? I suppose you stopped in at the hospital on your way downtownas usual?"
"Yes. He's getting along in prime shape, but he's as sore as themischief because he can't go along."
"It's too bad," remarked the captain sympathetically. "I'd have likedto have him along, not only for his company, but for his shrewdness aswell. He's got a level head on those shoulders of his, and his adviceat times might come in mighty handy.
"I won't go on deck with you, if you'll excuse me," continued thecaptain, reaching out his hand for a farewell shake, "because I've somework to do in connection with my clearance papers. Good-bye."
The young man was perfectly willing to be deprived of the captain'sfurther company, much as he liked him. The captain's daughter wouldmake a very good substitute. He hoped ardently that she, unlike herfather, would have no business to keep her below.
His hopes were realized, for he caught sight of her leaning on the railand gazing out upon the river with as much absorption as though she hadnever seen it before.
Possibly it did interest her. Possibly, too, she had forgotten allabout the handsome young man who was in conference with her father inthe cabin. Possibly she had not been stirred by the adoration in hiseyes or the agitation in his voice. So many things are possible!
Anyway, despite a heightened color in her cheeks and a starrybrightness in her eyes, her start of surprise, as she looked up and sawDrew standing beside her, was done very well indeed.
"So you conspirators have got through plotting already," she saidlightly.
"Yes," Drew laughed; "we've been going over every link of the chain andhave decided that it is good and strong. Not that my judgment wasworth very much, I fear, this morning."
"Why not?" she asked demurely.
"Because I couldn't put my mind on it," he answered. "My wits werewool gathering. I scarcely heard what your father said. I'm glad heisn't a mind reader."
"So few people are."
"I wish you were," he said earnestly.
She stiffened a little, and from that he took warning. He must checkthe impetuous words that strove for utterance. He had but barely mether. How was she to know the feelings that had possessed him sincetheir casual encounter on the pier? He must not frighten her by tryingto sweep her off her feet. This citadel was to be captured, if at all,by siege rather than by storm. He would risk disaster by beingpremature.
"Do you know," he said in a lighter tone, "that it was the surprise ofmy life when I found that your name was Hamilton?"
"Why should it have been a surprise?" she asked.
"Because I had been thinking all along that your name was Adams."
"What made you think that?" she inquired in genuine surprise.
"W--why," he stammered, "I saw that name on one of the letters when Ipicked up the packet from the grating of the boat."
She flushed.
"You mustn't think," he said earnestly, "that I tried to pry. If I'ddone that, I'd have found out the address at the same time. The namejust looked up at me, and I couldn't help seeing it."
His tone carried conviction, and she unbent.
"I can see how you made the mistake," she smiled. "The letter on topof the packet was addressed to a very dear friend whose first namehappens to be the same as mine. She and I were great chums in boardingschool. The letter had been sent to her by a girl we both knew and whohad been traveling abroad, and as Ruth knew I would be interested init, she sent it on for me to read."
"That explains the foreign stamp," he commented.
"You noticed that too, did you?" she asked, flashing a mischievousglance at him. "Really, you took in a lot at a single look. You oughtto be a detective."
"I wish I were," said Drew, as he thought ruefully of the unavailingplans he had made to find her. "I'm afraid I'm a pretty bunglingamateur."
"Well, you were only half wrong, anyway," she answered. "The firstpart of the name was right."
"Yes," he admitted. "But that didn't help me much. The last onedidn't either for that matter. There are so many Adamses in the city."
"How do you know?" she challenged.
He grew red. "I--I looked in the directory," he confessed.
She thought it high time to change the subject.
"I suppose it will be quite a wrench to say good-bye to your peoplehere," she remarked.
"I haven't any," replied Drew. "My father and my mother died when Iwas small. The only brother I have is out West, and I haven't seen himfor years. I've been boarding since I came to the city, five yearsago."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said with ready sympathy. "I know something ofhow you feel, because I lost my own mother three years ago. I've beenin boarding school most of the time since then. So I know what it isto be without a real home. Sometimes our only home was on shipboard."
"But it's always possible to make a real home," said Drew daringly.Then he checked himself and bit his lip. That troublesome tongue ofhis! When would he learn to control it?
She pretended not to have heard him.
"I have my father left," she went on; "and he's the best father in theworld."
"And the luckiest," put in Drew.
"He didn't want to take me on this trip at first," she continued, "butthe most of my relatives and friends are in California, and I knew I'dbe horribly lonely in New York. So I begged and teased him to let mego along, and at last he gave in."
"Of course he would," Drew said with conviction. "How could he helpit?"
He knew that if she should ask him, Allen Drew, for the moon he wouldpromise it to her without the slightest hesitation. He wished he daredtell her so.
"Have you ever been to sea?" she asked.
"No," replied Allen. "But I've always wanted to go."
And he told her of the longing that had sprung up in him when CaptainPeters had spoken so indifferently about the wonder-lands of mysteryand romance to which his bark was sailing.
While he talked, she was studying him closely, as is the way of girls,without appearing to do so. She noted the stalwart well-knit figure,the handsome features--the strong straight nose, the broad forehead,the brown eyes that sparkled with animation.
Drew was at his best when he talked, especially when his audience wasattentive, and there was no doubt that his audience of one was that.She listened almost in silence only putting in a word now and then.
The thought came to him that he might be boring her, and he stoppedabruptly.
"If I keep on, you'll be talked to death," he said apologetically.
"Not at all," she protested. "I've been intensely interested. I'mglad you feel so strongly about far-off places, because you're sure tofind plenty of romance where we are going."
"And treasure, the doubloons, too--don't forget the doubloons," helaughed, lowering his voice and looking around to see that no one waslistening.
"And that too," she agreed. "I suppose you've spent your sharealready?" she bantered.
"Well, I'm not quite so optimistic as all that," he laughed. "But Ireally think we have a chance. Don't you?"
"Indeed I do!" she exclaimed. "I don't think it's a wild goose chaseat all!"
"I'm glad you feel that way about it."
"Even if things go wrong, we can't be altogether cheated," she went on."We'll have had lots of fun looking for our treasure. Then, too, we'llhave had the voyage, and the schooner is a splendid sailing craft."
"She's a beauty," assented Drew. "I don't wonder you're proud of her."
"It was really quite flattering that you men should tell me what youwere going for," she said mockingly. "You're always saying that awoman can't keep a secret."
"I don't feel that way," protested Drew. "And to prove it, I'll----"
"Listen!" said Ruth hurriedly. "Wasn't that my father calling me?"
"I didn't hear him," he replied, looking at her suspiciously.
"I think I'd better go and make sure," decided Ruth, moved by a suddenimpulse of filial duty.
"Let him call again," suggested Drew.
But Ruth was sure that this audacious young man had said quite enoughfor one morning, and she held out her hand.
"Good-bye," she smiled. "I know from what my father has told me thatyou have an awful lot to do to get ready for the trip."
"Have I?" rejoined Drew. "I'd forgotten all about them."
They laughed.
He held the soft hand and fluttering fingers a trifle longer than wasabsolutely necessary, and after he released them he stood watching herlithe figure until she disappeared.
When Drew left the _Bertha Hamilton_ he was treading on air and hishead was in the clouds.
His dream had come true--part of it at least. He had found her, hadtalked with her. He was going to sail in the same ship with her. Theywould be thrown together constantly in the enforced intimacy of anocean voyage. He would see her in the morning, in the afternoon, inthe evening. And at last he would win her. The last part of his dreamwould be realized as surely as the first had been.
But when he got back to the shop he found that he was in a practicalworld whose claims refused to be ignored. Winters still needed a lotof coaching, and the time was short. The business must not sufferwhile Drew was gone.
One thing lifted from his shoulders some of the weight ofresponsibility. Tyke would be at hand to superintend things and tokeep a check on Winter's inexperience. To be sure, he would be in thehospital for some time to come, but Winters could go to see him everyevening, and get help in his problems.
The _Bertha Hamilton_ was to sail at high tide on Thursday morning, andby Wednesday night Drew had sent his baggage on board and had settledthe last item that belonged to Tyke's part of the contract. Everythingfrom now on was in the hands of Captain Hamilton.
He went up to the hospital to report to his employer and to sayfarewell. They talked long and late, and both were strongly moved whenthey shook hands in parting. Who knew what might happen before theymet again? Who knew that they ever would meet again?
"Good-bye, Mr. Grimshaw," said Drew. "I hope you'll be as well and asstrong as ever when I get back."
"Good-bye, Allen," responded Tyke, with a suspicious moisture in hiseyes. "I'll be rooting for you an' thinking of you all the time.Good-bye an' good luck."
At daybreak the next morning Drew stepped on board the _BerthaHamilton_ and the most thrilling experience of his life had begun.