Bildungsromans; Humorous stories; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Millionaires -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
The excitement on board the "Flitter" was boundless. Fear gave way to
joy, and where despair had for a moment reigned supreme, there was now
the most insane delight. Peggy was bundled below and into her berth,
Dr. Lotless attending her, assisted by all the women on board. Brewster
and the sailor, drenched but happy, were carried on the shoulders of
enthusiastic supporters to a place where hot toddies were to be had
before blankets.
"You have returned the favor, Conroy," said Brewster fervently, as he
leaned across the heads of his bearers to shake hands with the sailor
who was sharing the honors with him. Conroy was grinning from ear to
ear as he sat perched on the shoulders of his shipmates. "I was luckier
than I thought in saving your life that day."
"It wasn't anything, Mr. Brewster," said young Conroy. "I saw a chance
to drop the big nigger, and then it was up to me to get her out of the
water."
"You took a big risk, Conroy, but you made good with it. If it had not
been for you, my boy, they might have got away with Miss Gray."
"Don't mention it, Mr. Brewster, it was nothing to do," protested
Conroy in confusion. "I'd do anything in the world for you and for her."
"What is the adage about casting your bread upon the water and getting
it back again?" asked "Rip" Van Winkle of Joe Bragdon as they
jubilantly followed the procession below.
There was no more sleep on board that night. In fact the sun was not
long in showing itself after the rescuers returned to the vessel. The
daring attempt of Mohammed's emissaries was discussed without
restraint, and every sailor had a story to tell of the pursuit and
rescue. The event furnished conversational food for days and days among
both the seamen and the passengers. Dan DeMille blamed himself
relentlessly for sleeping through it all and moped for hours because he
had lost a magnificent chance to "do something." The next morning he
proposed to hunt for the sheik, and offered to lead an assault in
person. An investigation was made and government officials tried to
call Mohammed to account, but he had fled to the desert and the search
was fruitless.
Brewster refused to accept a share of the glory of Peggy's rescue,
pushing Conroy forward as the real hero. But the sailor insisted that
he could not have succeeded without help,--that he was completely
exhausted when Monty came to the rescue. Peggy found it hard to thank
him gently while her heart was so dangerously near the riot point, and
her words of gratitude sounded pitifully weak and insufficient.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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