“Well, here come your brother and Jessie now, so you won’t have much longer to wait—worse luck!” said Jack, with a wry smile. “I suppose I may at least be allowed the privilege of seeing you safely on board?”
Lucile threw him a merry glance as the rest came up. “I suppose you may,” she mimicked.
A few minutes later they stepped out of the cab and onto a sun-flooded wharf, where confusion reigned supreme. An immense crowd of people stood upon the dock, talking, laughing and gesticulating excitedly, and every one seemed in the highest of spirits. And, indeed, how could they be anything else, thought Lucile, as she looked about her with dancing eyes; the world had never seemed so essentially a place to laugh in as it did on this glorious morning.
“Well, we haven’t very much further to go,” said Mr. Payton, beaming genially down upon them. “There’s the good ship, ‘Mauretania,’ mates. Neat little craft, eh?”
And following the direction of his glance, they gazed for a second at the towering bulk of the steamer, scarcely daring to believe the evidence of their eyes.
“Say, that’s class!” breathed Phil, reverently, and Jessie added, “You could put all of Burleigh in one corner and never miss it!”
They all laughed, and Lucile started forward. “We can go on board now, can’t we, Dad?” she inquired.
“Sure we can go on board. We’ll have just about time to look at our staterooms, if we hurry.”
Since that was just the very thing everybody was most anxious to do, they wasted very little time in following his suggestion.
Jack kept close to Lucile’s side as they threaded their way through the crowd, and Phil took charge of the other two girls.