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John Quincy thought he saw a shadow cross her face. It will be a novel
experience, at any rate, she remarked.
John Quincy decided todispense with
lunch, and spent the afternoon reading in his berth.
The girl flushed slightly
and made no reply. Im sure I shall, replied John Quincy gallantly.
He went to
the rail outside his stateroom.
What sort of portwould claim him in the end? I
was here only until eight-thirty, she told him, when I went to aluau with some
friends. For the first time she thought of Barbara.
Sweet little dig for me,
the old lady was muttering indignantly.
Sometimes John Quincy chatted with
Madame Maynard on the deck. This is an alien world youreentering
now.
Winterslip on the telephone whilehe was at dinner.
One bumped into so many
peopleon such occasions. As a matter of fact, Im very proud of mymeeting with
Dan Winterslip, he went on. How does it happen, my dear, she asked, thatyoure
not on the college boat?
What, John Quincy inquired, is the college boat? That
was, at least, the import of his remarks. At that moment a loud knock sounded
on the screendoor at the front of the house.
Ruined now, Dan had said, ruined
by a damnedmechanical civilization.
His name being Winterslip, he had been
invited to sit at the captainstable. Ivegot your drink waiting in the
smoking-room. Islands where, not so longago, brown tribes had battled, brown
kings ruled. He peered across the black waterstoward the strange land that
awaited him.
She got her number, heard finallyan answering voice. Amos entered,
walking gingerly, for he was treading ground he had swornhis feet should never
touch. A few gulps,and you hit the ceiling of eternity.
The captain
wasoptimistic, he predicted they would make port late Monday afternoon.
Judging
by the smell, of nothing very lovely.
A Winterslip in the blackbirding
business! Haku, said Miss Minerva, there is some one in the living-room.
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