At last the signal was given, and the tug that was to carry me back to the city steamed alongside. I knew that the moment of parting had come, and, like an exile summoning all his fortitude to help him take bravely the last step across the border line which divides him from home and country, I said, calmly, “Well, dear,—
“‘If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why, then, this parting were well made.’”
I felt her warm, red lips against my cheek. I heard Ralph’s strong “God bless and keep you, little sister,” and then, almost before I knew it, I had slipped over the vessel’s side, and they were gone. I saw them wave a last adieu. I saw, as in a dream, the white-winged ship, bearing its precious freight, sail out into the dazzling east, over the dimpling sea, the shimmering, golden sea, the cruel, cruel sea.
There is no more to tell. The world knows the rest. Seven days of calm weather, and then from the coral reefs of the southern sea to the rocky headlands of the north, the storm-king raged. Madly the fierce Atlantic lashed its waves on cliff and beach and sunken ledge, sending dumb terror to the hearts that had seen their loved ones go down unto the sea in ships.
Somewhere on that wild waste of waters, whether in the chill, gray dawn or in midnight blackness, amid the lightning’s flash and thunder’s peal,—God only knows,—a little ship went down. And when the sharp, swift summons came, two brave hearts went forth together into the great Unseen, knowing of a surety that this, thank God, was not the end—only the end of the beginning.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
- Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.