Blow The Man Down: A Romance Of The CoastDay, Holman
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Blow The Man Down: A Romance Of The Coast
Day, Holman
Love stories; Ship captains -- Fiction; Yachts -- Fiction
They went to the end of the bridge, apart from the man at the wheel.
“I hurried to go to sleep last night so that I could dream of you, my
own big boy.”
“I walked the bridge until after daylight. I wanted to stay awake. I
could not bear to let sleep take away my thoughts.”
“What is there like love to make this world full of happiness? How
bright the sun is! How the waves sparkle! Those folks sitting back there
are looking at the same things we are--or they can look, though they
don't seem to have sense enough. And about all they notice is that it's
daylight instead of night. My father and those men are talking about
money--just money--that's all. And Wally has a headache from drinking
too much Scotch. And Nan Burgess doesn't love anybody who loves her, But
for us--oh, this glorious world!”
She put out her arms toward the sun and stared boldly at that blazing
orb, as though she were not satisfied with what her eyes could behold,
but desired to grasp and feel some of the glory of outdoors. If Captain
Mayo had been as well versed in psychology as he was in navigation
he might have drawn a few disquieting deductions from this frank and
unconscious expression of the mood of the materialist. She emphasized
that mood by word.
“I'll show you my little clasp-book some day, big boy. It's where I
write my verses. I don't show them to anybody. You see, I'm telling you
my secrets! We must tell each other our secrets, you and I! I have put
my philosophy of living into four lines. Listen!
“The future? Why perplex the soul? The past? Forget its woe and strife!
Let's thread each day, a perfect whole, Upon our rosary of Life.”
“It's beautiful,” he told her.
“Isn't it good philosophy?”
“Yes,” he admitted, not daring to doubt the high priestess of the new
cult to which he had been commandeered.
“It saves all this foolish worry. Most of the folks I know are always
talking about the bad things which have happened to them or are peering
forward and hoping that good things will happen, and they never once
look down and admire a golden moment which Fate has dropped into their
hands. You see, I'm poetical this morning. Why shouldn't I be? We love
each other.”
“I don't know how to talk,” he stammered. “I'm only a sailor. I never
said a word about love to any girl in my life.”
“Are you sure you have never loved anybody? Remember, we must tell each
other our secrets.”
“Never,” he declared with convincing firmness.
She surveyed him, showing the satisfaction a gold-seeker would exhibit
in appraising a nugget of virgin ore. “But you are so big and fine! And
you must have met so many pretty girls!”
He was not restive under this quizzing. “I have told you the truth, Miss
Marston.”
“For shame, big boy! 'Miss Marston,' indeed! I am Alma--Alma to you. Say
it! Say it nicely!”
He flushed. He stole a shamefaced glance at the-wheelsman and made a
quick and apprehensive survey of the sacred regions aft.
“Are you afraid, after all I have said to you?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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