“You said—you said—you’d think it over,” sobbed Joanne, “and here when everything arranges itself so wonderfully you turn a deaf ear to my plea.”
The captain gave a little chuckle as the doctor turned a whimsical glance upon him.
“There, there, child,” said the doctor soothingly, “there is no use in making tragedy of this. We can’t do anything now, here on the high seas anyway. We have no intention of throwing the pony overboard and the boy after him. They’ve both got to stay on board till we dock. In the meantime we will see what can be done. It isn’t a matter that can be decided in a moment. I suppose the boy’s parents are crazy because of his absence. We’d better send them a wireless, eh, captain?”
The captain nodded. “We’ll see to that.”
“Come then, kitten,” said her grandfather to Joanne. “It is all right. I’ll tell the boy that we will see what can be done. Now go to your grandmother. Better wash off some of those superfluous tears first. I’ll come up after I have settled some further matters with the captain.”
So Joanne dried her eyes and nodded to the boy, calling upon her small stock of Spanish for a word of comfort. “Paciencia! Paciencia! Pablo,” she stammered, and with a bright smile at the captain, chasing away her tears she ran to her stateroom.
CHAPTER II
THE LOVELY LADY
THE news of a stowaway had reached the upper deck before Joanne arrived there. She had quite recovered her composure by this time, and, as usual after one of her excitable outbursts, she was turning her dark cloud to show the silver lining. It was fortunate, she told herself, that there were some days before the vessel could reach New York, and in that time, probably she could coax her grandfather into keeping both Pablo and Chico. She remembered that Dr. Selden had said that Paulino Lopez had a swarm of children, so why should he not be pleased to have one of them provided for? This pleasant thought caused her to flash a sudden smile at the friendly boy now standing by his mother’s side.
This time the boy did more than smile; he spoke. “Say,” he began, “have you heard about the stowaway? Is there really one?”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Joanne halted in her walk. “He is ours. I have just been down to see him.”