anticipating? Why should we spoil any little surprise that our gallant
captain may have in store for us? I've been trying to convert this
business man to my easy philosophy, Miss Keene, but he is incorrigible;
he is actually lamenting his lost chance of hearing the latest news at
Mazatlan, and getting the latest market quotations, instead of offering
a thanksgiving for another uninterrupted day of freedom in this glorious
air."
With a half humorous extravagance he unloosed his already loose
necktie, turned his Byron collar still lower, and squared his shoulders
ostentatiously to the sea breeze. Accustomed as his two companions were
to his habitually extravagant speech, it did not at that moment seem
inconsistent with the intoxicating morning air and the exhilaration of
sky and wave. A breath of awakening and resurrection moved over the face
of the waters; recreation and new-born life sparkled everywhere; the
past night seemed forever buried in the vast and exundating sea. The
reefs had been shaken out, and every sail set to catch the steadier
breeze of the day; and as the quickening sun shone upon the dazzling
canvas that seemed to envelop them, they felt as if wrapped in the
purity of a baptismal robe.
Nevertheless, Miss Keene's eyes occasionally wandered from the charming
prospect towards the companion-ladder. Presently she became ominously
and ostentatiously interested in the view again, and at the same moment
a young man's head and shoulders appeared above the companionway. With
a bound he was on the slanting deck, moving with the agility and
adaptability of youth, and approached the group. He was quite surprised
to find Miss Keene there so early, and Miss Keene was equally surprised
at his appearance, notwithstanding the phenomenon had occurred with
singular regularity for the last three weeks. The two spectators of this
gentle comedy received it as they had often received it before, with a
mixture of apparent astonishment and patronizing unconsciousness, and,
after a decent interval, moved away together, leaving the young people
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