"Better engage a taxi if you expect to take 'em all in before night, my boy," Shepley said.
"I forgot! We haven't any too many taxis in Honduras. I had a car of my own, but sold it before I came away."
"You let the busy auto agents know that, and you'll have a regiment of them——"
"And there!" Sidney Prale cried. "Now I know that I am home! There is the Old Girl in the Harbor!"
Prale removed his cap, and a mist came into his eyes that did not come from the foggy billows through which the ship was plowing. The sun was shining through the murk at last, and it touched the Statue of Liberty. The great figure seemed like a live thing for a moment; the mist made it appear that her garments were waving in the breeze.
"Now I know that I am home!" Sidney Prale repeated.
"She sure is a great old girl!" Rufus Shepley agreed. "Always glad to see her!"
"Well, I've got to get ready to land; I'm not going to waste any time," Prale said. "I'm glad that I met you—and perhaps we'll meet again in the city."
"Hope we do!" said Shepley, grasping Prale's hand. "Our factories are out in Ohio, but the company headquarters are in New York, of course. Here's my business card, my boy. And I generally put up at the Graymore."
Sidney Prale took the card, thanked Rufus Shepley, and hurried down the deck toward his stateroom, one of the best on the ship. Rufus Shepley looked after him sharply.