CHAPTER IX “THE SEA KING’S DAUGHTER” The next day the passengers all arose early to go on deck; but most of them had to lie down again before they had finished dressing; and to remain in their staterooms, where they were attended by the stewardess. The ship was approaching Queenstown. All our party, however, came upon deck. Some of them were sick enough, but they all thought that the fine air of the upper deck was better for them than the close air of the staterooms, or even of the cabin. The weather-beaten and weather-proof old skipper and his grandniece, little Rosemary Hedge, were the only ones who remained perfectly well, with a keen appetite for breakfast and a wholesome enjoyment of the sharp March morning. “How is it with you, my girl?” inquired the skipper, when they all met in the bows and exchanged their morning greetings and compared notes about endured or threatened sickness. “How is it with you? You look as fresh and as bright as a brand new sixpence, and you are as steady on your pins as if you had been to sea all your life!” “She has been to sea longer than that!” put in Wynnette, the incorrigible. “She is only seventeen years old, but she has been to sea about two hundred years to my certain knowledge! And how many thousand years before that I don’t know! And if she has not exactly followed the sea, in her own person, she has in that of her ancestry, on both sides of the house. Her father was a sailor, her two grandfathers were sailors, and her four great-grandfathers. And from them she has inherited her good sea legs.” “No—doubt—of—it. No—doubt—of—it,” slowly and approvingly replied the old skipper, as he gazed admiringly on his little niece. “Ah! if she had only been a boy, what a sailor I could have made of her!” They were drawing very near to Queenstown now, and in less than half an hour the _Asia_ dropped anchor in the Cove of Cork. As soon as the ship was still the seasick got well and went down to breakfast. After that they returned to the deck, to look out upon the coast of Ireland. As the _Asia_ was to wait there for some hours to get the last mail, many of the passengers went on shore. Our party remained on the steamer. In the afternoon the excursionists returned. The ship made preparations for sailing. Our party sitting on deck, and all feeling perfectly well now that the ship was still, overheard some “grew-some” words from one of the men. “That bank of clouds in the west means mischief and dirty weather ahead.” “Do you hear that, Jack Tar?” inquired the old skipper of his little niece. “Yes, Uncle Gideon,” she answered, lifting her large, blue eyes to his face. “And do you know what ‘dirty weather ahead’ means?” “Yes, Uncle Gideon.” “Well, what does it mean?” “Why, it means furious storms to come.” “Did you ever hear the phrase before?” “No, Uncle Gideon.” “Then how do you know what it means?”