CHAPTER XIII
STORM SIGNALS
Naturally Drew's first thought as he glanced about the vessel, was ofRuth. But it was too early for the young lady to be in evidence.
Captain Hamilton met him with a cordial grasp of the hand, and took himdown to the room assigned to him for the voyage. It was one of aseries of staterooms on either side of a narrow corridor aft, and,although of course small, it was snug and comfortable.
There was a berth built against one side of the room. Apart from atiny washstand, with bowl and pitcher, and a small swinging rack for afew books, a chair completed the equipment of the stateroom. The roomwas immaculately neat and clean, and in a glass on the washstand was atiny bunch of violets. Drew wondered who had put it there.
"Rather cramped," laughed the captain; "but we sailors have learned howto live in close quarters, and you'll soon get used to it. There aresome drawers built into the side where you can put your clothes, andyour trunk and bags can go under the berth."
Drew, with his eyes and thoughts on the flowers, hastened to assure thecaptain that there was plenty of room.
"The stateroom next to yours, I had set aside for Tyke," said CaptainHamilton regretfully. "It's too bad that the old boy isn't coming.The one on the other side is Parmalee's."
"I suppose he hasn't come aboard yet?" half questioned Drew, as heunstrapped his bags, preparatory to putting their contents in thedrawers.
"Oh, yes he has," returned the captain. "He came aboard last night. Isuppose he's still asleep. Haven't heard him stirring yet."
"What time do you expect to pull out?" asked Drew.
"Almost any minute now. We've got everything aboard and we're onlywaiting for the tug that will take us down the bay. The wind's not sofair this morning."
The captain excused himself and went on deck, and a little later,having finished his unpacking, the younger man followed him.
The one person on whom his thoughts were centered was still invisible,and Drew had ample time to watch the busy scene upon the schooner'sdeck. The members of the crew were hurrying about in obedience toshouted orders, stowing away the last boxes and provisions that hadcome on board.
The sails were in stops ready to be broken out when the vessel shouldbe out in the stream. A snorting tug was nosing her way alongside. Aslight mist that had rested on the surface of the water was beingrapidly dissipated by the freshening breeze, and over the Long Islandhorizon the sun was coming up, red and resplendent.
Drew made his way along the deck until he came near the foremast, wherethe mate was standing, bawling orders to the men. He was a tall, spareman, and in his voice there was a ring of authority, not to saytruculence, that boded ill for any man who did not jump when spoken to.His back was toward Drew, but there was something about the figure thatseemed familiar.
While he was wondering why this was so, the man turned, and, withamazement, Drew saw that the mate of the _Bertha Hamilton_ was theone-eyed man with whom he had had his unpleasant encounter upon theJones Lane wharf.
There was a flash of recognition and plenty of insolence in that oneeye as it was turned upon Drew, but the next moment the man had turnedhis back and was again bellowing at the sailors.
Drew had a feeling of discomfort. He knew from the look the mate hadgiven him that he still cherished malice. It was unpleasant to have adiscordant note struck at the very outset of the voyage. And then,there was the suspicious circumstance of Grimshaw's accident. Aone-eyed seaman had figured in that. Should he go to Captain Hamiltonand report his vague suspicions of this fellow?
He had no time to pursue the thought, however, for at that moment heheard the clang of a gong, and an ambulance came dashing out on thepier just as the moorings of the _Bertha Hamilton_ were about to becast off.
Drew's first thought was that an accident had happened, and he hurriedover to the starboard rail. The ambulance had stopped, and twowhite-clad attendants were helping out a man who had been reclining ona mattress within. They stood him on one foot while they slipped apair of crutches under his arms. The man lifted his head, and, with ayell of delight, Drew leaped to the wharf.
It was Tyke Grimshaw! Pale and haggard the old man looked, but hisindomitable spirit was still in evidence and his eyes twinkled with theold whimsical smile.
"Hurrah!" yelled Drew.
The cry was echoed by Captain Hamilton, who had likewise leaped fromthe taffrail to the pier.
"Didn't expect to see me, eh?" queried Tyke, while the ambulance menstood by, grinning.
"No, I didn't," roared Captain Hamilton, gripping him by one hand whileDrew held the other. "But I can't tell you how glad I am that you madeup your mind to come."
"We might have known you'd get here if you had to walk on your hands,"cried Drew jubilantly.
"Had to fight like the mischief to get them doctors to let me come,"chortled Tyke, evidently delighted by the warmth of the greeting."They told me I was jest plumb crazy to think of it. But after Allen,here, left me last night I got so lonesome an' restless there was noholding me. Seemed like I'd go wild if I'd had to stay in thatsick-bay while you fellers were sniffing the sea air. So I jest rearedup on my hind legs, as you might say, an' they had to let me come."
"And you got here just in the nick of time," said the captain. "Tenminutes more and we'd have been slipping down the river."
Carefully supporting him on either side, for he found the unaccustomedcrutches awkward, Captain Hamilton and Drew helped him on board thevessel and seated him comfortably in a deck chair.
Tyke drew in great draughts of the salt-laden air and his eyesglistened as he scrutinized the lines and spars of the schooner, notingher beauties with the expert eye of the sailor.
"Great little craft," he said approvingly. "I wouldn't have missedsailing on her for the world. A cruise in a tidy schooner like thiswill do me more good than them blamed doctors could if they fiddledaround me for a year."
"How is your leg feeling now?" asked Drew solicitously.
"Better already," grinned Tyke. "In less'n a week I'll be chuckingthese crutches overboard. See if I don't."
Suddenly Tyke fell silent. Drew turned swiftly and saw that the oldman was staring under bent brows at the mate of the schooner.
"Who's that?" Tyke finally demanded.
"That's Ditty--my mate," said Captain Hamilton. "I told you he was nohandsome dog, didn't I?"
"Ugh!" grunted Tyke, and said no more.
Before Drew could ask the question that was on the tip of his tongue, amusical voice at his elbow said:
"Good morning, Mr. Drew."
He was on his feet in a flash, holding out his hand in eager greeting."I was wondering when I was going to see you!" he exclaimed.
"You'll probably see too much of me before this voyage is over," Ruthsaid demurely. "I expect you men will be frightfully bored with onelone woman hovering around all the time."
Drew's eyes were eloquent with denial.
"Impossible!" he said emphatically. Then he became conscious that Tykewas looking on with some curiosity.
"Oh, I forgot," he said. "Mr. Grimshaw, this is Miss Hamilton, CaptainHamilton's daughter. Miss Hamilton, this is Captain Grimshaw."
Ruth held out her hand, but Tyke deliberately drew her to him andkissed her on the cheek. She extricated herself blushingly.
"An old man's privilege, my dear," said Tyke placidly. "An' I've knownyour father going on thirty years."
Drew wished that it were a young man's privilege as well.
"So you're Rufus Hamilton's daughter," went on Tyke. "My, my! An'pooty as a picture, too."
Ruth flushed a little at so open a compliment, but smiled at Grimshawand said brightly:
"I'm so glad you can come with us. I was dreadfully sorry to hear ofyour accident. It would have been horrid for you to stay cooped up inthat old hospital. Father has told me how much you had counted on thetrip."
"The old craft isn't a derelict jest yet," replied Tyke
complacently."I'm afraid I'll be something of a nuisance till I get steady on mypins again, but I'll try not to be too much in the way."
"We'll all be glad to wait on you, I'm sure," protested Ruth, withanother smile that won Grimshaw completely.
"I'll go down now and see how Wah Lee is getting along with breakfast,"the girl continued. "I've no doubt you folks will be hungry enough todo justice to it."
"This air would give an appetite to a mummy," declared Drew.
"I'm some sharp set myself," admitted Tyke, as the fragrance ofsteaming coffee was wafted to him from the cook's galley. "Jest thevery thought of eating in a ship's cabin again makes me hungry."
Drew's eyes followed the girl as she disappeared down the companionway,and when he looked up it was to find Tyke regarding him amusedly.
"So that's the way the wind blows, is it?" the old man chuckled.
"Nonsense!" disclaimed Drew, although conscious that his tone did notcarry conviction. "She's a very nice girl, but this is only the secondtime I've met her." To avoid further prodding, he added: "I'll go downto your room and see if that Jap has put things shipshape for you."
As he went to the room reserved for Grimshaw, he met Ruth just comingout of it. Her skirts brushed against him in the narrow corridor andhe tingled to the finger tips.
"I've just put a few flowers in Mr. Grimshaw's room," she said. "Theyseem to make the bare little cubby holes a bit more homey, don't youthink? I thought they would be a sort of welcome."
Drew agreed with her, but the hope he had been hugging to his breastthat he had been singled out for special attention vanished.
"I was foolish enough to think that I had them all," he confessed witha sheepish grin.
"What a greedy man!" she laughed. "No, indeed! Did you think I wasgoing to overlook my father or Mr. Parmalee? You men are so conceited!"
As though the mention of his name had summoned him, the door of aneighboring stateroom opened just then and a young man stepped out. Hesmiled pleasantly as his gaze fell on Ruth.
"Good morning, Miss Ruth. I'm incorrigibly lazy, I'm afraid," heremarked, "or else this good air is responsible for my sleeping moresoundly than for a long time past."
Ruth assured him that it was still early.
"If you are lazy, the sun is too," she said, "for, like yourself, ithas just risen."
"That makes him lazier," returned Parmalee, "for he went to rest a gooddeal earlier than I did last night."
Ruth laughed, and, after introducing the young men to each other, shevanished in the direction of the captain's cabin.
The pair exchanged the usual commonplaces as they moved toward thecompanionway. Parmalee walked with some difficulty, leaning on a cane,and Drew had to moderate his pace to keep in step. When they emergedinto the full light of the upper deck, Drew had a chance to gain animpression of the man who was to be his fellow-voyager.
Lester Parmalee was fully four inches shorter than the trifle over sixfeet to which Drew owned, and his slender frame gave him an appearanceof fragility. This impression was heightened by the cane on which heleaned and the lines in his face which bespoke delicate health. Hiscomplexion was pale, and seemed more pallid because of its contrastwith a mass of coal black hair which overhung his rather high forehead.His nose and mouth were good and his eyes dark and keenly intelligent.Some would have called him handsome. Others would have qualified thisby the adjective romantic. All would have agreed that he was agentleman.
His physical weakness was atoned for to a great extent by otherqualities that grew on one by longer acquaintance. His manners werepolished, his mind trained and well stored. He was a graduate ofHarvard and had traveled extensively. His inherited wealth had notspoiled him, although it had, perhaps, given him too muchself-assurance and just a shade of superciliousness.
The two young men as they chatted formed a violent contrast. If Drewsuggested the Viking type, Parmalee would, with equal fitness, havefilled the role of a troubadour. The one was powerful and direct, theother suave and subtle. One could conceive of Drew's wielding a broadaxe, but would have put in Parmalee's hands a rapier. Each had his ownseparate and distinct appeal both to men and women.
Drew introduced Parmalee to Grimshaw. Then the captain came along, andall four were engaged in an animated conversation when Namco, theJapanese steward, announced:
"Lady say I make honorable report: Bleakfast!"
"And high time for it!" cried the captain. "I'm as hungry as a hawkand I guess the rest of you are too. We'll go down and see what thatslant-eyed Celestial has knocked up for us."
Wah Lee had "done himself proud" in this initial meal, which proved tobe abundant, well-cooked and appetizing.
All were in high spirits as they gathered about the table. Ordinarily,the mate would have formed one of the company while the second officerstood the captain's watch. But the narrow quarters and the unusualnumber of passengers on this trip made it necessary that the mateshould eat after the captain and his guests had finished.
The captain sat at the head of the table while Ruth presided over thecoffee urn at the foot. Tyke sat at the captain's right, and the twoyoung men were placed one on either side of their hostess.
She wore a fetching breakfast cap, which did not prevent a rebelliouswisp or two of golden hair from playing about her pink ears. Hercheeks were rosy, her eyes sparkling, and her demure little housewifelyair as she poured the coffee was bewitching. The excitement of thestart, the novelty of the quest on which they had embarked, and thepresence of two young and attentive cavaliers put her on her mettle,and she was full of quaint sayings and witty sallies.
Her father gazed on her fondly, Tyke beamed approvingly, and Parmalee'sadmiration was undisguised. As for Drew, the havoc she had alreadymade in his heart reached alarming proportions. He found himselfpicturing a home ashore, where every morning that face would beopposite to him at the breakfast table with that ravishing dimplecoming and going as she smiled at him.
"How do you like your coffee?" she asked him, her slender fingershovering over the cream jug and the sugar tongs.
"Two lumps of cream and plenty of sugar," he responded.
She laughed mischievously.
"We always try to please," she said; "but really our cream doesn't comein lumps."
He reddened.
"I surely did get that twisted," he said a little sheepishly. "Supposewe put it the other way around."
"I guess your mind was far away," she jested. "You must have beenthinking of the treasure."
"That's exactly right," he returned, looking into her eyes as he tookthe cup she handed him. "I was thinking of the treasure."