第79章

``Well, I don't know.It sounds more interesting than engineering.Burke says I beat him on his last fight, and he'd like to have me with him in the next one--sort of young-blood-in-the-firm idea--and he calculates that we can go about setting people free and upsetting governments for some time to come.He says there is always something to fight about if you look for it.

And I must say the condition of those poor Macedonians does appeal to me.Think of them all alone down there bullied by that Sultan of Turkey, and wanting to be free and independent.That's not right.You, as an American citizen, ought to be the last person in the world to throw cold water on an undertaking like that.In the name of Liberty now?''

``I don't object; set them free, of course,'' laughed Clay.

``But how long have you entertained this feeling for the enslaved Macedonians, Mac?''

``Well, I never heard of them until a quarter of an hour ago, but they oughtn't to suffer through my ignorance.''

``Certainly not.Let me know when you're going to do it, and Hope and I will run over and look on.I should like to see you and Burke and the Prince of Macedonia rolling rocks down on the Turkish Empire.''

Hope and Clay passed on up the deck laughing, and MacWilliams looked after them with a fond and paternal smile.The lamp in the wheelhouse threw a broad belt of light across the forward deck as they passed through it into the darkness of the bow, where the lonely lookout turned and stared at them suspiciously, and then resumed his stern watch over the great waters.

They leaned upon the rail and breathed the soft air which the rush of the steamer threw in their faces, and studied in silence the stars that lay so low upon the horizon line that they looked like the harbor lights of a great city.

``Do you see that long line of lamps off our port bow?'' asked Clay.

Hope nodded.

``Those are the electric lights along the ocean drive at Long Branch and up the Rumson Road, and those two stars a little higher up are fixed to the mast-heads of the Scotland Lightship.

And that mass of light that you think is the Milky Way, is the glare of the New York street lamps thrown up against the sky.''

``Are we so near as that?'' said Hope, smiling.``And what lies over there?'' she asked, pointing to the east.

``Over there is the coast of Africa.Don't you see the lighthouse on Cape Bon? If it wasn't for Gibraltar being in the way, I could show you the harbor lights of Bizerta, and the terraces of Algiers shining like a cafe' chantant in the night.''

``Algiers,'' sighed Hope, ``where you were a soldier of Africa, and rode across the deserts.Will you take me there?''

``There, of course, but to Gibraltar first, where we will drive along the Alameda by moonlight.I drove there once coming home from a mess dinner with the Colonel.The drive lies between broad white balustrades, and the moon shone down on us between the leaves of the Spanish bayonet.It was like an Italian garden.But he did not see it, and he would talk to me about the Watkins range finder on the lower ramparts, and he puffed on a huge cigar.I tried to imagine I was there on my honeymoon, but the end of his cigar would light up and I would see his white mustache and the glow on his red jacket, so I vowed I would go over that drive again with the proper person.And we won't talk of range finders, will we?

``There to the North is Paris; your Paris, and my Paris, with London only eight hours away.If you look very closely, you can see the thousands of hansom cab lamps flashing across the asphalt, and the open theatres, and the fairy lamps in the gardens back of the houses in Mayfair, where they are giving dances in your honor, in honor of the beautiful American bride, whom every one wants to meet.And you will wear the finest tiara we can get on Bond Street, but no one will look at it; they will only look at you.And I will feel very miserable and tease you to come home.''

Hope put her hand in his, and he held her finger-tips to his lips for an instant and closed his other hand upon hers.

``And after that?'' asked Hope.

``After that we will go to work again, and take long journeys to Mexico and Peru or wherever they want me, and I will sit in judgment on the work other chaps have done.And when we get back to our car at night, or to the section house, for it will be very rough sometimes,''--Hope pressed his hand gently in answer,--``I will tell you privately how very differently your husband would have done it, and you, knowing all about it, will say that had it been left to me, I would certainly have accomplished it in a vastly superior manner.''

``Well, so you would,'' said Hope, calmly.

``That's what I said you'd say,'' laughed Clay.``Dearest,'' he begged, ``promise me something.Promise me that you are going to be very happy.''

Hope raised her eyes and looked up at him in silence, and had the man in the wheelhouse been watching the stars, as he should have been, no one but the two foolish young people on the bow of the boat would have known her answer.

The ship's bell sounded eight times, and Hope moved slightly.

``So late as that,'' she sighed.``Come.We must be going back.''

A great wave struck the ship's side a friendly slap, and the wind caught up the spray and tossed it in their eyes, and blew a strand of her hair loose so that it fell across Clay's face, and they laughed happily together as she drew it back and he took her hand again to steady her progress across the slanting deck.

As they passed hand in hand out of the shadow into the light from the wheelhouse, the lookout in the bow counted the strokes of the bell to himself, and then turned and shouted back his measured cry to the bridge above them.His voice seemed to be a part of the murmuring sea and the welcoming winds.

``Listen,'' said Clay.

``Eight bells,'' the voice sang from the darkness.``The for'ard light's shining bright--and all's well.''

End