<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_V"></SPAN>CHAPTER V</h2></div>
<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">We</span> had been a long time together in the little
office, longer even than this extended conversation
would lead a reader to imagine,
and as I went through the saloon I saw that they were
laying the table for lunch, a sight by no means ungrateful
to me, for I had risen early and enjoyed but a small
and frugal breakfast. I surmised from the preparations
going forward that I should in the near future
have something better than rice. When I reached the
deck I saw the captain smoking a pipe and still pacing
the bridge with his hands in his pockets. He was a
grizzled old sea-dog, who, I found later, had come from
the Cape Cod district, and was what he looked, a most
capable man. I went aft and sat down, not wishing to
go forward and became acquainted with the captain,
as I expected every moment that Mr. Hemster would
come up and give him his sailing-orders. But time
passed on and nothing happened, merely the same state
of tension that occurs when every one is ready to move
and no move is made. At last the gong sounded for
lunch. I saw the captain pause in his promenade,
knock the ashes out of his pipe into the palm of his
hand, and prepare to go down. So I rose and descended
the stairway, giving a nod of recognition to
the captain, who followed at my heels. The table was<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53">53</SPAN></span>
laid for five persons. Mr. Hemster occupied the position
at the head of it, and on his right sat his daughter,
her head bent down over the tablecloth. On the
opposite side, at Mr. Hemster’s left, sat the young lady
of whom I had had a glimpse the afternoon before.
The captain pushed past me with a gruff, “How de
do, all,” which was not responded to. He took the
place at the farther end of the table. If I have described
the situation on deck as a state of tension, much
more so was the atmosphere of the dining-saloon.
The silence was painful, and, not knowing what better
to do, I approached Miss Hemster and said pleasantly:</p>
<p>“Good-morning. I hope you are none the worse
for your shopping expedition of yesterday.”</p>
<p>The young woman did not look up or reply till her
father said in beseeching tones:</p>
<p>“Gertie, Mr. Tremorne is speaking to you.”</p>
<p>Then she glanced at me with eyes that seemed to
sparkle dangerously.</p>
<p>“Oh, how do you do?” she said rapidly. “Your
place is over there by Miss Stretton.”</p>
<p>There was something so insulting in the tone and inflection
that it made the words, simple as they were,
seem like a slap in the face. Their purport seemed to
be to put me in my proper position in that society, to
warn me that, if I had been treated as a friend the day
before, conditions were now changed, and I was merely,
as she had previously remarked, her father’s hired
man. My situation was anything but an enviable one,
and as there was nothing to say I merely bowed low to
the girl, walked around behind the captain, and took<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54">54</SPAN></span>
my place beside Miss Stretton, as I had been commanded
to do. I confess I was deeply hurt by the
studied insolence of look and voice; but a moment
later I felt that I was probably making a mountain of
a molehill, for the good, bluff captain said, as if nothing
unusual had happened:</p>
<p>“That’s right, young man; I see you have been
correctly brought up. Always do what the women tell
you. Obey orders if you break owners. That’s what
we do in our country. In our country, sir, we allow
the women to rule, and their word is law, even though
the men vote.”</p>
<p>“Such is not the case in the East,” I could not help
replying.</p>
<p>“Why,” said the captain, “it’s the East I’m talking
about. All throughout the Eastern States, yes,
and the Western States, too.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I replied, “I was referring
to the East of Asia. The women don’t rule in
these countries.”</p>
<p>“Well,” said the staunch captain, “then that’s the
reason they amount to so little. I never knew an
Eastern country yet that was worth the powder to blow
it up.”</p>
<p>“I’m afraid,” said I, “that your rule does not prove
universally good. It’s a woman who reigns in China,
and I shouldn’t hold that Empire up as an example
to others.”</p>
<p>The captain laughed heartily.</p>
<p>“Young man, you’re contradicting yourself.
You’re excited, I guess. You said a minute ago that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55">55</SPAN></span>
women didn’t rule in the East, and now you show
that the largest country in the East <em>is</em> ruled by a
woman. You can’t have it both ways, you know.”</p>
<p>I laughed somewhat dismally in sympathy with him,
and, lunch now being served, the good man devoted his
entire attention to eating. As no one else said a word
except the captain and myself, I made a feeble but
futile attempt to cause the conversation to become general.
I glanced at my fair neighbor to the right, who
had not looked up once since I entered. Miss Stretton
was not nearly so handsome a girl as Miss Hemster,
yet nevertheless in any ordinary company she would be
regarded as very good-looking. She had a sweet and
sympathetic face, and at the present moment it was
rosy red.</p>
<p>“Have you been in Nagasaki?” I asked, which was
a stupid question, for I knew she had not visited the
town the day before, and unless she had gone very
early there was no time for her to have been ashore
before I came aboard.</p>
<p>She answered “No” in such low tones that, fearing
I had not heard it, she cleared her throat, and said
“No” again. Then she raised her eyes for one brief
second, cast a sidelong glance at me, so appealing and
so vivid with intelligence, that I read it at once to
mean, “Oh, please do not talk to me.”</p>
<p>The meal was most excellent, yet I never remember
to have endured a half-hour so unpleasant. Across
the table from me, Miss Hemster had pushed away
plate after plate and had touched nothing. When I
spoke to her companion she began drumming nervously<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56">56</SPAN></span>
on the tablecloth with her fingers, as if she had great
difficulty in preventing herself giving expression to an
anger that was only too palpable. Her father went
on stolidly with his lunch, and made no effort to relieve
the rigor of the amazing situation. As soon as the
main dish had been served and disposed of, the captain
rose, and, nodding to the company, made for the companion-way.
Once there he turned on his heel and
said:</p>
<p>“Mr. Hemster, any orders?”</p>
<p>Before her father could reply, the young lady rose
with an action so sudden and a gesture of her right
hand so sweeping that the plate before her toppled and
fell with a crash to the floor. I noticed Mr. Hemster
instinctively grasp the tablecloth, but the girl marched
away as erect as a grenadier, her shapely shoulders
squared as if she was on military parade, and thus she
disappeared into the forward part of the ship. Miss
Stretton looked up at her employer, received a slight
nod, then she, with a murmur of excuse to me, rose and
followed the mistress of the ship. I heard a loud,
angry voice, shrill as that of a peacock, for a moment,
then a door was closed, and all was still. Mr. Hemster
said slowly to the captain:</p>
<p>“I’ll be up there in a minute and let you know
where we’re going. We’ve got all the time there is,
you know.”</p>
<p>“Certainly, sir,” said the captain, disappearing.</p>
<p>There was nothing to say, so I said nothing, and Mr.
Hemster and I sat out our lonely meal together. He
seemed in no way perturbed by what had taken place,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57">57</SPAN></span>
and as, after all, it was no affair of mine, even if my
unfortunate remark regarding the Mikado had been
the cause of it, I said inwardly there was little reason
for my disturbing myself about it. Although the old
gentleman showed no outward sign of inward commotion,
he nevertheless seemed anxious that our dismal
meal should draw to a speedy close, for he said to me
at last:</p>
<p>“If you wish for coffee, you can have it served to
you on deck.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” said I, glad to avail myself of the opportunity
to escape. As I mounted the companion-way
I heard him say in firmer tones than I had known
him to use before:</p>
<p>“Tell my daughter to come here to me,”—a command
answered by the gentle “Yes, sir,” of the Japanese
boy.</p>
<p>I moved the wicker chair and table as far aft as
possible, to be out of earshot should any remarks follow
me from the saloon. I saw the captain on the
bridge again, pacing up and down, pipe in mouth and,
hands in pockets. Even at that distance I noticed on
his face a semi-comical grimace, and it actually seemed
to me that he winked his left eye in my direction. The
coffee did not come, and as I rose to stroll forward and
converse with the captain I could not help hearing the
low determined tones of the man down in the saloon,
mingled now and then with the high-pitched, angry
voice of the woman. As I hurried forward there next
came up the companion-way a scream so terrible and
ear-piercing that it must have startled every one on<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58">58</SPAN></span>
board, yet nobody moved. This was followed instantly
by a crash, as if the table had been flung over, which
of course was impossible, as it was fastened to the floor.
Then came the hysterical, terrifying half-scream, half-sob
of a woman apparently in mortal agony, and instinctively
I started down the companion-way, to be
met by Miss Stretton, who stretched her arms from
side to side of the stairway. The appealing look I
had noticed before was in her eyes, and she said in a
low voice:</p>
<p>“Please don’t come down. You can do no good.”</p>
<p>“Is anybody hurt?” I cried.</p>
<p>“No, nobody, nobody. Please don’t come down.”</p>
<p>I turned back, and not wishing to see the captain or
any one else at that moment, sat down in my chair
again. The sobs died away, and then Mr. Hemster
came up the companion-way with a determined look
on his face which seemed to me to say, “Women do not
rule after all.” Once on deck he shouted out to the
captain the one word:</p>
<p>“Corea!”</p>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59">59</SPAN></span></p>
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