“I think I shall be. I went yachting once all about the Hebrides, and it was often pretty rough and choppy; but I did not mind. I don’t see how one could be ill in a huge boat like this.”
Ronald laughed.
“Wait till you see what the Atlantic rollers are like. You will soon learn what a cork even a big vessel like this can be. Wait till we get to the Bay of Biscay O!”
Laughing and talking, with the quickly established good fellowship of young folks, Sheila and Ronald paced up and down the deck. Sheila was keenly interested in the big vessel and in the other ships they met or passed as they glided along; and Ronald could answer most of her questions, and was altogether a delightful companion. He had travelled a good deal, though he had never before been to Madeira; and he told her anecdotes of shipboard life and of his hunting adventures, time slipping away so fast that the clatter of teacups and the movement of some of the passengers towards the saloon quite surprised them.
It was not a full ship, being one of the “intermediate” boats popular with Madeira passengers, who often find trouble in getting booked for the regular Cape mails. Most of the passengers had cabins to themselves—no small boon to bad sailors, and appreciated by all.
“We shall take about half a day, perhaps a whole one, longer than the mail,” Ronald explained; “but it’s much jollier to have plenty of room and a cabin of one’s own. But come along and have some tea! Where are your people? You’ve got a delicate cousin, I know, and an aunt and uncle. Anybody else?”
“No, I did want my brother to come; but it couldn’t be arranged. It would have been quite perfect with him. Is this the way? How funny everything is on shipboard! Oh, we are beginning to roll a little! I suppose we are getting into the Channel?”
“Yes, just about. Do you mind?”
“Not a bit. I like it. There is Miss Adene! Who is the lovely lady she is talking to? And, oh, what a darling little boy! Who is he?”
“Oh, that’s our young Rascal! The lady is my sister-in-law, you know. Here, Rascal, come and see this lady! Here’s somebody new to make a fuss of you!”