Ten minutes later I should have given much to have been able to spring back on the wharf. The launch raced at full speed out across the harbor, past the last steamer riding at anchor, and turned toward the open sea. Where in the name of Father Neptune was she bound? I wiped the water from my eyes and gazed in astonishment at the fast disappearing shore. The last ship was already behind. The higher waves of the outer bay caught our tiny boat as she slipped through the mouth of the break-water, and sent me waltzing about the slippery deck. Was the long-haired captain a lunatic who had chosen a launch for a sea voyage? Then all at once I understood, and gasped with dismay. Far off through the driving rain appeared the towering masts of the sailing-vessels, and that one toward which we were headed had her sails bent, ready for starting. That vice-consul had sentenced me to work my way home on a sailing-vessel!
Dusk was settling over the harbor when the launch bumped against the ship’s side. Several seamen, sprawling about the deck, sprang to their feet as I poked my head over the bulwarks.
“Hooray!” bawled a loud voice. “A new shipmate, lads. Turn out an’ see.”
Sailors dressed and half dressed stumbled out on the deck; and in the twinkling of an eye I was surrounded by all hands and the cook.
The cook gave me leave to dry my uniform in the galley, and I went to the forecastle to tell my story to the excited crew.
When I arrived in Yokohama I found the city decorated in honor of Secretary Taft’s party, which, with Miss Roosevelt, arrived July 25, 1905. The arch through which they drove to the station is made of evergreens.
“It’s a ragged deal t’ ’ave t’ work your passage ’ome on a wind-jammer,” cried one of the seamen, when I had finished. “Howsomever, ’ere you are, an’ it’s no use kickin’ after you’re ’ung.
“This tub?” he went on, in answer to my question about the ship. “She’s the Glenalvon, English built, as you can see wi’ your eyes shut, solid enough, being all iron but ’er decks; but that’s all can be said for ’er. This crowd shipped on ’er from England two years ago with loaded saltpeter for Yokohama, and she’s bound now for the States all right—to load wheat for ’ome, like ’nough. Maybe it’ll take a month to get there.”
By the time my clothes were dry the second mate came forward to tell me what my work was to be, and I turned in with my new mess-mates. It barely seemed possible that I had fallen asleep, when there came a banging on the iron door of the sailors’ room and a noisy shout of: