Drew—Oh, yes there is! No use putting me off that way. Why, I’ve felt it hanging about in the air ever since I first looked at your mother.
Sue—Yes, she’s failed terribly since you saw her last.
Drew—Oh, I don’t mean just sickness—only—did you notice how she had to—force herself—to joke about things? She used to be so cheerful natural. [Scratching his head in honest puzzlement.] But—that ain’t what I mean, either. What is it, Sue? Maybe I can help somehow. You look worried, too. Pshaw! You can tell me, can’t you?
Sue—Why, yes, Danny—of course—if I could tell—only I’m just as puzzled as you over what it comes from.
Drew—[Persuasively.] Well, you sit down and tell me what’s happened since I’ve been away. Then maybe we can put our heads together and figure out what’s wrong, and turn to get things ship-shape again. [Sue sits down but does not speak. Drew remarks as if to get her started.] That schooner’s a smart little craft for sailing, I should say. I didn’t notice no one about working, though.
Sue—No. They’re probably below in the cabin, drinking. That’s all they’ve been doing lately. The schooner’s been ready to sail for two weeks—but Pa has kept waiting—I don’t know what for. Yes, I do know, too—I think I guess. He’s been waiting for Ma to give in and christen the ship with her name. But she won’t give in. You heard her.
Drew—Well, I suppose she does take it to heart that he’d give up the business he’s been in all his life to go in for something new—at his age.
Sue—He mortgaged the house to get money to buy and fit out this schooner. You know he lost most everything when the Triton was wrecked. He’d only had her two years, and she cost him a pile of money. Then, too, he’s lost a lot all his life—since he and Ma moved out here from the East—investing in all sorts of silly mining ventures—gold mines that always turned out to be only holes in the ground. As far back as I can remember he’s never seemed to care about the whaling business—the oil. Ambergris was what he was after. Finding one chunk of that meant more to him than a full cargo of oil.
Drew—[With a grin.] “Old Ambergris.” That’s what they call him along the coast—behind his back, of course. I reckon he was sort of prospecting the Pacific Ocean looking for an ambergris mine. [Apologetically.] Sounds as if I was making fun of him, but you remember how you’n’ me ’n’ Nat used to laugh about it together.
Sue—It’s past a laughing matter now, Danny.