"No propeller," said the girl quietly, and she left her seat and
disappeared below, leaving the mate gasping painfully.
Left to himself, he became melancholy, as he realised that the great
passion of his life had commenced, and would probably end within a few
hours. The engineer came aboard to look at the fires, and, the steamer
being now on the soft mud, good-naturedly went down and assisted him to
free the propeller before going ashore again. Then he was alone once
more, gazing ruefully at the bare deck of the Aquila.
It was past two o'clock in the afternoon before any signs of life other
than the blackbird appeared there. Then the girl came on deck again,
accompanied by a stout woman of middle age, and an appearance so affable
that the mate commenced at once.
"Fine day," he said pleasantly, as he brought up in front of them.
"Lovely weather," said the mother, settling herself in her chair and
putting down her work ready for a chat. "I hope the wind lasts; we start
to-morrow morning's tide. You'll get off this afternoon, I s'pose."
"About five o'clock," said the mate.
"I should like to try a steamer for a change," said the mother, and
waxed garrulous on sailing craft generally, and her own in particular.
"There's five of us down there, with my husband and the two boys," said
she, indicating the cabin with her thumb; "naturally it gets rather
stuffy.
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