Waylao was awake; she stood at the far end of the hold staring at us all.
It was a real treat to see the politeness of those scallawags; some even reddened slightly as she appeared before them. The Dude made his cuffs conspicuous, pulled them down half-an-inch, put his hand to his mouth and gave the old, artful, conventional cough to the girl.
With the appearance of Waylao the men all rose and, one by one ascending the iron ladder that led to the deck, went ashore.
Uncle Sam stayed behind for a while with Waylao. He did his level best to persuade her to go home. The old shellback spoke like a grandfather to her. I think she promised to go home that night, but asked to be left to herself that day, on the hulk. Whatever she promised was not fulfilled, for no one saw her on that hulk again excepting Grimes. Even Grimes wouldn’t have seen her, but for the fact that he returned to the hulk in the daytime. He lingered about for some time ere he went aboard and faced Waylao. This he told me with his own lips when I returned that night from a visit that I had been compelled to pay to those whom I had disappointed on the night of my violin engagement.
It appeared that Grimes heard the girl singing to herself as he approached the derelict. He had contemplated going straight aboard to make Waylao an offer of marriage.
As near as I can recall, the following is what he had intended saying:—
“I’m Bill Grimes, a nonnest man; I knows just ’ow fings is wif yer; so I’ve come to awsk yer if yer’ll marry the loikes of me.”
Grimes nearly sobbed as I pressed his hand that night. We both felt wretched enough by that time, for Waylao had disappeared ere sunset, and when old Lydia came rushing down to the hulk to see her daughter, she was too late.
It was only after several whiskies that Grimes confided in me that he had gone on to the hulk and interviewed Waylao; but when he faced the girl his heart failed him, and instead of rattling off the choice bits that he had inwardly rehearsed, God knows how earnestly, he only had the pluck to offer her all the wages that he had saved.
“Did she take it, Grimes?” said I.