“How did you come to be in this boat?” she asked.
“I’m her captain, but just now I wish I were an engineer,” he answered humorously. “She’s not running as she ought to do, and I’m afraid you’ll have rather a long trip. In fact, I think we had better go round behind the island where there’s smoother water. Will your people be anxious because you’re late?”
“They don’t expect me until to-morrow. Some friends were traveling by the boat, and I thought I could get home before it was dark.”
Jimmy thrilled at her nearness, but he knew that he must steel himself against her charm. Her friends were his enemies and he could not involve her in any difficulties with them. He must wait until fortune favored him, if it ever did so. But the waiting was hard.
“You didn’t tell me how you happen to be running this boat,” she reminded him with a smile.
“Well, you see, I didn’t want to leave this neighborhood,” Jimmy explained slowly, picking his words. “My partners and I have a plan which we can’t put into execution yet, and it prevents us from going too far from Vancouver. I’m not sure that anything will come of it, but it might. One lives in hope.”
Ruth was relieved by his answer. It had been painful to think of his following some rough occupation, and, worse still, wandering about the city in search of work. Though she felt sorry for him, it made her indignant. She hated to imagine his being content to live among the broken men she had seen hanging about the dollar hotels.
“Mr. Farquhar,” she said, “even in this country it is hard for a man to stand alone, and I think there are times when one is justified in taking a favor from one’s friends. Now, you were very kind on board the Empress, and I’m sure my father—”
He made an abrupt movement, and she stopped, and just then the launch plunged her bows into a breaking sea and a shower of spray blew inside the hood.
“It’s impossible,” he said firmly a few moments later. “I suppose I’m stupidly independent; but there are my partners to consider. They expect me to see our plans through. After all, they may turn out as we hope.”