CHAPTER IV
NIRVANA
A pleasant sense of motion came over me that suggested cradling waves, and I was sleepily wondering why we had gone out on a day that portended storms, when a tapping at my stateroom door was followed by someone whispering:
"Aren"t you ever going to get up, you lazy old dear?"
It was a girl"s voice.
Gradually and cautiously I drew the sheet about my chin, feeling no little confused to have a girl five feet away whispering pet names at me through a thin part.i.tion.
"Aren"t you?" she repeated, more sweetly imperious.
"You bet," I stammered.
"Then do hurry! It"s almost ten, and I"ve been waiting such a long time!"
Whereupon I heard her moving off, pressing her hands against the panels for steadiness, and there struck me as having been an endearing pathos in the way she said: "such a long time!"
This was, no doubt, some of Tommy"s doing. He had invited friends aboard for luncheon, and was now daring one of them to play this joke. But my glance turned to the room, to its equipment and toilette articles which were large and curiously shaped, and the numbing truth crept into my brain that the stupid boatman had put me on the wrong yacht.
I had known some tight places in France, but this one simply squeezed me all over. There was nothing for it, of course, but go out and explain--yet how could a chap appear at noon draped in a sheet! The situation confused me, but I decided to search the wardrobe, of my unknown host, to borrow his razor, appropriate a new toothbrush that should be found in a box somewhere, and select flannels and linens in keeping with the hour. Still balanced between confusion and panic I must have done these things because, fittingly attired though with no very good fit, I opened my door, stepped softly along the pa.s.sageway, and entered the cabin.
On a wide couch built in at one side a girl lay reading. Her head was toward me, but as I advanced she arose with a low cry of gladness, saying:
"So you"re here at last----!" then with a little gasp drew back, facing me in the most entrancing att.i.tude of bewilderment.
It was the girl who had left that ball of paper!
The sea, always my friend, at this moment did a rather decent thing; it gave the yacht a firm but gentle lurch and sent us into each other"s arms. Perhaps nothing else in all the world of chances could so effectively have broken the ice between us, for we were laughing as I helped her back to the couch; and, as our eyes met, again we laughed.
"I didn"t know," she said, "that Father brought a guest aboard last night!"
"Awkward of him, wasn"t it?" I stammered, sparring for time.
"One is apt to be awkward in weather like this," she graciously admitted.
"You don"t know how profoundly aware I am of--of how terribly true that is," I stumbled along. "Is he on deck?" For, oh, if I could only get to see him five minutes alone!
"No, he"s unusually lazy this morning; but I"ve called, him, the old dear!"
A chill crept up my spine--crept up, crept down, and then criss-crossed.
But she must know of her mistake before we had gone so far that putting me ash.o.r.e would be a serious inconvenience--for I knew he would put me ash.o.r.e at the nearest point, if not, indeed, set me adrift in an open boat. Therefore I suggested:
"Wouldn"t it be a good idea to call him again? It"s rather important!"
"Oh, you think we shouldn"t have gone out in a storm like this? I"ve been dreadfully uneasy!"
"No danger at all," I declared, with affected indifference, adding: "The weather isn"t half as rough as "the old dear" will be, take my word for it!"
A shadow of mystification pa.s.sed over her wonderful face, yet she smiled with well-bred tolerance, saying:
"You are quite droll."
"Drollery is the brother of good fellowship," I replied, helping her across the reeling cabin. As I had feared, she went directly to my room where the door had swung back showing an empty bunk.
"Why, he"s up, after all," she glanced over her shoulder at me.
"I believe he is," I idiotically affirmed.
"But where?"--this more to herself.
"Hiding, maybe," I ventured, taking a facetious squint about.
"Hiding?" she asked, in mild surprise.
"Er--playing a trick on us! He"s a funny old dog at tricks!"
"Funny old dog?" She drew slightly away from me. "Do you mean my father, Mr.--er?"
"Jack," I prompted, more than ever embarra.s.sed and wishing the ocean would come up and swallow me; for I realized, alas, that my G.o.ds, by whom I was reasonably well remembered in so far as concerned physique, had been shamelessly remiss in their bestowal of brains.
"Jack?" she slowly repeated. "What an odd name!"
This made me feel queer.
"Where do you live," I asked, "that you think it"s an odd name? The States are crawling with Jacks! It"s even the Democratic emblem!"
Her perplexity was fast approaching alarm when we heard a m.u.f.fled report above, followed by a trembling of the yacht. Someone called an order that sounded far away in the wind.
"Hold tight," I said, "while I see if anything"s wrong!"
But I did not leave her side, knowing exactly what had happened. We had snapped our mainsheet, that was all; letting the boom swing out and putting us in the trough of the waves where we might expect a few wobbly minutes until the sailors could work in a new line. There was no danger and I rea.s.sured her at once, but she merely asked:
"Was my father on deck?"
"I didn"t look," I answered, wondering why she thought I knew.
"Won"t you see?" Her patience was becoming exhausted.
"I"m crazy to. But first let me help you back--you can"t make it alone!"
"Oh, yes, I can," she murmured. "I always make things alone!"
I tried to fathom the meaning of this, but gave it up and started to go on deck. If I could take her father off to one side and explain, well and good. He would perhaps sympathize with my mistake when he understood that it was partially the result of a desire to fill Monsieur with spirits. Considering this, I spoiled everything by asking: