A little later the looked-for message came instructing Captain Manning to engage Howland as Bert’s deputy during the voyage. From now on, there would not be one moment of the twenty-four hours that someone would not be on watch to send or receive, much to Bert’s relief and delight. Now he could breathe freely and enjoy his work, without any torturing fears of what might have happened while he slept.
By half-past three that afternoon the ships were within twenty miles of each other. The beautiful weather still continued and the sea was as “calm as a millpond.” All were on the alert to greet the oncoming steamer. Soon a dot appeared, growing rapidly larger until it resolved itself into a magnificent steamer, seven hundred feet in length, with towering masts and deck piled on deck, crowded with dense masses of people. She made a stately picture as she came on until a quarter of a mile from the Fearless. Then she hove to and lowered her boats.
With deep emotion and the warmest thanks, the survivors bade their rescuers good-by and were carried over to the Nippon, their third temporary home within twenty-four hours. By the time the last boat had unloaded and been swung on board, dusk had fallen. The ships squared away on their separate courses and the bells in the engine room signaled full speed ahead. Handkerchiefs waved and whistles tooted as they passed each other, and the white-coated band on the upper deck of the Nippon played “Home Again.” The electric lights were suddenly turned on and the great ship glowed in beauty from stem to stern. They watched her as she drew swiftly away, until her gleaming lights became tiny diamonds on the horizon’s rim and then faded into the night.
[CHAPTER V]
An Island Paradise
“Land ho!” shouted the look-out from his airy perch in the crow’s nest, and with one accord the passengers of the Fearless rushed on deck to catch the first glimpse of that wonderful land they had all heard so much about. Hawaii! What a vision of hill and plain, of mountain and valley, of dangerous precipice and treacherous canyon, of sandy beach and waving palm, of radiant sunshine and brilliant moonlight, the magic of that name evokes!
“Gee, fellows, can you see anything that looks like land?” Bert asked of his companions, as they elbowed their way through the crowd to the railing of the ship. “Oh, yes, there it is,” he cried a moment later, pointing to a tiny spot on the horizon, “but it looks as if it were hundreds of miles away.”