"Yes, and we sailed out on that quest only seventeen days ago. It seems incredible, doesn't it!"
"It sure does," he chuckled, once more raising the glasses. "You've put on seventeen pounds, too,—besides a special chunk of 120, or thereabouts, which you gained the night of the rescue. That's some record, boy! See here," he asked quickly, "who the deuce are those people, anyway! One has a mighty familiar look!" And I could hardly keep from laughing as I answered:
"I think the Mater went by Louisville and picked up Nell——"
"Good Lord, I see her," he yelled, so instantly and irrepressibly delirious with joy that he let my binoculars fall overboard, the chump.
But now I saw that Doloria—which was the other name for romance and adventure—had slipped away from Monsieur; she had gone forward and, all alone, was leaning against the foremast, gazing dreamily at this new world and these new people who waited to take her to their hearts. So I forgot Tommy, God bless him!—he may have known a little about women, after all!
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistencies in the hyphenation and variations in spelling have been retained as in the original.