Through all the laughing discussion Sun Li sat looking on, silent but evidently enjoying to the full the sensation his wholesale invitation had created. Several times his impassive Chinese calm was broken with a smile that broadened almost to a real laugh as he listened. It was evident that he was both highly entertained and pleased. It was late in the afternoon when the party broke up, Sun Li, Dr. Wu, and the coolie bearers returning with Captain Eric to the _Sea Gull_, and the rest of the family plunging, immediately upon their departure, into a frenzy of planning and packing. There was but short time for either, since His Excellency wanted to be on his way to southern waters by the following afternoon, and under the circumstances, naturally, his wish was as effective as his commands were at home in his native province. The rest of that day and the next were a sort of dreamlike confusion to Erica, who went about with her red head in the clouds, and her feet stumbling, in consequence, into all kinds of absurd blunders when she tried to help. She was so excited over the impending trip that she was quite as little to be counted on for practical assistance as Baby Barbee. Fortunately, however, Milly kept her head, and between Aunt Callie and herself, with some aid from Lis’s strong young arms, the necessary packing of clothes, and the removal of baggage and family on board the _Sea Gull_, were duly and efficiently accomplished before sundown of the second day. Erica never was to forget, in all the years to come, the hushed, thrilling sense of expectancy that seemed to hang over the moment when the _Sea Gull’s_ white wings were finally flung free to the winds and the soft slap of little waves against her graceful sides began, as the clipper drew away from her moorings and set her sharp nose toward the open sea. The sun was sinking in a great red ball behind the little gray town, and a faint bluish mist hung over the roofs and the high church steeples. Here and there wisps of trailing clouds caught fire from the afterglow, and burned in a gold and scarlet flame against the blue of the sky. The quiet harbor waters in their turn reflected the bright tints, and as Erica leaned against the rail, gazing down, she saw in the red and gold reflections the white sails of the clipper also mirrored. It was so beautiful it made the breath catch in her throat, and a film of unshed tears softened everything about her like the dropping of a fine gauze curtain over the evening’s glory. Then, as the town, and finally the island itself, faded more and more dimly into the gathering twilight behind them, Erica abruptly left her post on deck, and hurried below to her cabin—which she must share now with Milly Thorne. When she came on deck half an hour later she was once more wearing her new Chinese costume of jade green, with the cunning betasseled silk slippers, and the jade and agate necklaces.