The friends dined with the Coburns for the last time that evening. Mr. Coburn was a little late for the meal, saying he had waited on the wharf to see the loading completed, and that all the cargo was now aboard, and that the Girondin would drop down to sea on the flood tide in the early morning.
“We shall have her company so far,” Hilliard remarked. “We must start early, too, so as to make Bordeaux before dark.”
When the time came to say good-bye, Mr. Coburn and his daughter went down to the launch with their departing visitors. Hilliard was careful to monopolize the manager’s attention, so as to give Merriman his innings with the girl. His friend did not tell him what passed between them, but the parting was evidently affecting, as Merriman retired to his locker practically in silence.
Five o’clock next morning saw the friends astir, and their first sight on reaching the deck was the Girondin coming down-stream. They exchanged hand waves with Captain Beamish on the bridge, then, swinging their own craft, followed in the wake of the other. A couple of hours later they were at sea.
Once again they were lucky in their weather. A sun of molten glory poured down from the clearest of blue skies, burnishing a track of intolerable brilliance across the water. Hardly a ripple appeared on the smooth surface, though they rose and fell gently to the flat ocean swell. They were running up the coast about four miles out, and except for the Girondin, now almost hull down to the north-west, they had the sea to themselves. It was hot enough to make the breeze caused by the launch’s progress pleasantly cool, and both men lay smoking on the deck, lazily watching the water and enjoying the easy motion. Hilliard had made the wheel fast, and reached up every now and then to give it a slight turn.
“Jolly, I call this,” he exclaimed, as he lay down again after one of these interruptions. “Jolly sun, jolly sea, jolly everything, isn’t it?”
“Rather. Even a landlubber like me can appreciate it. But you don’t often have it like this, I bet.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Hilliard answered absently, and then, swinging round and facing his friend, he went on:
“I say, Merriman, I’ve something to tell you that will interest you, but I’m afraid it won’t please you.”
Merriman laughed contentedly.