Solepa smiled sadly. 'I hope so. But if he is drown' I will not cry no more now, for we shall see the captain and little Nita again.'
CHAPTER XVII
BACK TO FOTUNA
That morning after breakfast, as the Adventurer heeled her weather-beaten sides over the trade wind, and the clanking pumps sent a stream of clear water through the lee scuppers, Tom and Bill on the one part, and Herrendeen on the other part, made a bargain.
Mrs. Casalle had come on deck and was reclining in a cane lounge, with Solepa sitting at her feet fondling her hands and looking into her mistress's face, as she talked volubly to her in Samoan. With her new-found happiness shining in her eyes, and tinting her pale cheeks, Mrs. Casalle seemed to scarcely heed the girl's prattle--she was trying to hear the good-natured argument going on between Tom, the Maori, and the captain. The two hours' talk she had had with Tom had not satisfied her; she wanted to hear his story over and over again; to hear him tell her how he had carried 'the little one' up from the beach and placed her in Kate Gorman's arms; to question him again about her husband and how he looked, and about Port Kooringa, and his own father and brother, and Kate--and then to lie down and think of God's goodness to her in sparing husband and child to meet her again. Oh, if she could but know where they were now!
She closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to think how many long, long months would pass before she would hear those loved voices and see those dear faces again. The breeze played with her soft hair under the wide Panama hat she wore, and then she heard Herrendeen's tones.
'Now, let us go and tell Mrs. Casalle.'
She sat up with extended hands--one for Herrendeen, the other for Tom--'What is it you are going to tell me, captain? Only one thing in the world can make me happier than I am now.'
'And I reckon you shall have that one thing before long,' said the captain, knowing what she meant, and pressing her hand between both his own. 'Now here is what we have to say. Young Mr. Wallis here, and Bill--this is Mr. William Chester, Mrs. Casalle, one of the best men in the world that ever gripped a whale lance--and we have been talking. They wanted to go in their boat to Fiji, and I said it was just flyin' in the face of Providence.'
'But you will not--surely you will not?' she said to Tom, excitedly; 'think of the dangers of a boat voyage--the risks, the terrible risks. I am a sailor's wife--and I know.'