“No news has yet been heard of the S. Y. Firefly, which left Colombo some months ago for an extensive cruise in the Indian Ocean. It is feared that she may have foundered with all hands in one of the recent gales.”
But she didn’t—the sea was as calm as the proverbial duck pond when the S. Y. Firefly went down in a thousand fathoms of water not far from the Cocos Islands. And but for the grace of Heaven and Jim Maitland that fate would have overtaken the good Andaman instead.
And so for your eyes only, Mrs. Jim, I will put down the real facts of the case. For your eyes only, I say, because I’m not absolutely sure that legally speaking he was quite justified.
The S. S. Andaman was a vessel of some three thousand tons. She was in reality a cargo boat carrying passengers, in that passengers were the secondary consideration. There was only one class, and the accommodation was sufficient for about thirty people. Twelve knots was her maximum speed, and she quivered like jelly if you tried to get more out of her. And last, but not least, Captain James Kelly had been her skipper for ten years, and loved her with the love only given to men who go down to the sea in ships.
When Jim and I went on board she was taking in cargo, and Kelly was busy. He was apparently having words with the harbor master over something, and the argument had reached the dangerous stage of politeness. But Jim had sailed in her before, and a minute or two later a delighted chief steward was shaking hands with him warmly.
“This is great, sir!” he cried. “We got a wireless about the berths, but we had no idea it was from you.”
“You can fix us up, Bury?” asked Jim.
“Sure thing, Mr. Maitland,” answered the other. “We’ve only got twelve on board: two Yanks, a colored gentleman, two ladies and a missionary bunch.” We had followed him below and he was showing us our cabins. “Seven of ’em, sir,” he went on, “with two crates of Bibles and prayer books, all complete. Maybe you saw them sitting around on deck as you came on board.”
“Can’t say I did, Bury,” said Jim indifferently.