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He, too, was disappointed, finding that he was not to be one of the party. The Second and Third Lieutenants, with Pember and the master, commanded the two boats, and, all things being ready, away they pulled. They had got to some distance when it was discovered that they had gone without signal-rockets or port-fires.
Captain Phippeny was one of those sailors whom the change of scene, the wide knowledge of men and of things, the hardships and dangers of a sea life, broaden and render tolerant and somewhat wise. Pember had been brutalized by these same things.
Pember glanced at the clock. It was very early, but to go back to bed was hardly worth while. The sun was already beginning to glint through the fog. She dressed, and, passing softly the door of the room where Mellony slept, rather fitfully of late, began to make the fire. The morning broadened and blazed into the day, and the whole town was making ready for its breakfast.
She's got toler'ble good men to handle her." There was a pause. The soft twilight was battening down the hatches of the day, to drop into the parlance of the locality. "Well, I do suppose old Pember warn't an easy shipmate, blow or no blow," observed Captain Smart. He was a small, keen-eyed, quickly moving old man, seasoned with salt. "I reckon he warn't.
You can do more good for your country by coming with us." "Yes, sir," Pember said. "I guess you are right, captain." "You're a good soldier, Pember," Taylor went on. "A situation like this is unique. It demands use of individual initiative, rather than blind obedience to orders. Do you understand?" "Yes, sir," Pember said, adjusting the burden on his shoulder. They reached the car.
I secured a handkerchief round my head, and Esse did the same. "Are you all ready, lads?" asked Pember. "Ay! Ay! Sir," was the answer. "Then shove off, and I pray we may reach yonder coast before dark." We glided slowly on. For some time we appeared to be approaching the land.
Ira turned quickly and looked over his shoulder. Across the uneven ground, straight towards them, came the figure of Mrs. Pember. The tenseness of her expression had further yielded to resolution, which had in turn taken on a stolidity which declared itself unassailable.
She had been mistaken in supposing that Mellony was asleep; the girl must have risen early and slipped out, for the room was empty, and Mrs. Pember paused, surprised that she had not heard her go. It must have been while she was getting kindling-wood in the yard that Mellony had left by the street door.
"Well, they ain't," rejoined Captain Phippeny, with that absence of mere rhetoric characteristic of people whose solid work is done otherwise than by speech. Mrs. Pember nodded, at once in acknowledgment and farewell, and, turning about, followed the path he had indicated, her gait acquiring a certain precipitancy as she went down the rough, stony slope.
Pember to demand an answer in an imperative fashion unlike their usual mildness. "It's because I've been, it's because I'd save you from what I have been that I do as I do. You know that," she said. "I don't want to be saved," returned the other, quickly and sharply. The older woman was faced by a situation she had never dreamed of, a demand to be allowed to suffer!
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