The father stared in silence, while the girl walked the floor.
"I expect you to waive all legal transfer of the property," she went on. "I expect you to recognize me as owner of the ship, and to take her where I direct. If you will not, I shall take such action as I find necessary, or possible, and employ another captain. If I am thwarted, I shall go myself. I am a navigator."
"Zaza, you are mad!" said the father solemnly.
"Do not say that, or I shall go mad. There are things in life past our comprehension or analysis. This is one of them. All I know is what I feel—that he is part of myself, or I part of him."
"You have fallen in love with him, and you think these things."
"Do not confound cause and effect."
"What land is he on? Do you pretend to know that?"
"We shall find him. Something will guide us—God, if you like."
The father regarded her fixedly for a moment; then sighed, and said, "I suppose I may as well humor you, for a while at least. We shall take in ballast as soon as she arrives, and go. But what a waste of time!"
So the big ship, able to earn an annual dividend of sixteen per cent. of her cost, left Melbourne in ballast, practically in charge of a crazed girl bent on finding a man drowned ten months before.