Here a deep whistle sounded warning for all, who were not passengers, to be going ashore. Then were seen low bows, frantic embraces, shakings of hands. "Sayonara! Sayonara!" the air was filled with the sound of the parting word. Nan clung to her lover's arm. "Come soon, come soon," she whispered. "This is good-bye."
"Nothing shall keep me from you, nothing," he said with grave earnestness. "God bless my darling girl." He held her hand while the others crowded around for a last farewell.
"Good-bye, my sister Nan," whispered Eleanor. "Write as often as you can. Yes, yes, of course I will. I will take good care of him, and I will let you know if anything goes wrong? Why certainly, only nothing will go wrong. It is going to be all right and the first thing you know, you will be coming to meet us both."
"Sayonara! Sayonara! If it must be!" Another hoarse blast from the steamer, a last hand-clasp, a scramble to get ashore by those tardily lingering and in a few minutes the great vessel began to move out.
Nan strained her eyes to watch for the last glimpse of the beloved figure who, standing on the dock, was waving farewell. Her eyes would dim with tears which she wiped away from time to time quite reckless of observers.
"Sayonara! Sayonara!" the words came very faintly now, and then only the churning of the water, the throb of the engine, the queer junks sailing by, the flecks of foam. "Farewell, dear Japan, I have left my heart with you," Nan sighed. "Every moment takes me away from the loveliest dream, the sweetest memories that ever girl had."
Jack standing where the fresh wind blew in her face watched the vessel's prow rush through the blue. On and on and on. "Every minute takes us that much nearer. We're coming, Cart, old boy, we're coming. It won't be long now," so sang her heart.
"Sayonara! Sayonara!" sighed the little Japanese girls by Nan's side.
"Sayonara!" piped up Toku smiling into Nan's face.