For the sixth time I reiterated the fact, and only then would she let me say anything further. The breach was completely healed. When I told her the good news her rapture knew no bounds; she lavished kisses upon me, calling me by all sorts of pet names, both Spanish and English, and continually urged me to make haste, as if it could be possible for us to set sail that very evening.
"Oh, how good you are to me!" she repeated. "And what boat do you think you can get? There's Phelp's Ocean Queen, but she's too large; there's the Alberta, but she's not large enough. Oh, what boat can we find?"
"I was thinking of the Mother of Pearl," I answered. "She's quite big enough; and I know Jameson would let us buy her outright for a small sum cash. He's in low water, and wants a smaller boat."
"Yes; she would do beautifully," she continued, clapping her hands. "You must go and see about her this very hour, and then we may get away to-morrow, perhaps."
As she said this she looked up into my face with such an air of entreaty that I convinced myself that I was more in love with her than ever.
"Well, hardly to-morrow, I fancy," I replied. "You see there's so much to be seen to; a crew to be hunted up, stores, and a thousand and one things to be attended to, that all take time. What's more, I expect she'll want overhauling; she's been lying out there these six months past, just going to rack and ruin."
"Then when, my Jack, may we sail?"
"Perhaps the day after to-morrow—hardly before."
This at first caused her to look disappointed, for she seemed impatient of even an hour's delay; but she soon regained her spirits, and we set off back to the township on the best of terms.
Leaving her at her door, I passed on along the Sea-Front, to a spot where I knew I should find the owner of the Mother of Pearl. Just as I expected, he was seated on a bench, sunning himself between drinks; and as it was about time to hunt up another, I invited him to step inside the shanty and lubricate at my expense. This he willingly consented to do; and when the operation had been safely accomplished, and not till then, I began to lead up to the subject of the schooner.