“We can if you wish it,” replied Mr. Willing.
“Then let’s do, Dad.”
“All right.”
And so it was arranged. Shirley went below where she and Mabel immediately began gathering their things together so that they would be ready to leave the boat the moment it docked at San Diego.
There was no question that the girls had become great favorites with all the passengers. Many pressed them to continue the trip to San Francisco, Captain Anderson being one of the most anxious to keep them aboard as long as possible.
“I don’t know what I shall do without you,” he told Shirley and Mabel. “We have had lots of excitement on this voyage, more than ever before, and you two girls have been mainly responsible for it. I hope that I shall see you again some time.”
“Why,” said Shirley, “there are many more summers coming, and if we ever decide to make this trip again we shall not ever think of taking any boat but yours.”
“May the time come soon,” said the captain.
The passengers bade them an affectionate good-bye as they left the Yucatan at San Diego, and then they entered a taxi and were driven to a hotel, where they once more made themselves comfortable for a stay ashore.
They spent two days at the San Diego exposition, and then took a train for San Francisco to view, as Shirley expressed it, “the greatest sight they ever expected to see.”