Rosebrook,
fearing his friends will lose their passage, begs people to clear
the gangway, and almost runs on board, his fugitive charge clinging
to his arms. The captain stands at the gangway, and recognising the
late comer, makes one of his blandest bows: he will send a steward
to show them a good state-room. "Keep close till the boat leaves,
and remember there is a world before you," Rosebrook says, shaking
Annette by the hand, as she returns, "God bless good master!" They
are safe in the state-room: he kisses Franconia's cheek, shuts the
door, and, hurrying back, regains the wharf just as the last bell
strikes, and the gangway is being carried on board.
"Not going along with us, eh?" ejaculates the captain, as, from the
capsill, Rosebrook looks round to bid him good-by.
"Not to-day" (he returns, laconically). "Take good care of my
friends; the young invalid from Lousiana in particular." Just then
he catches the stranger's eye, and, with a significant motion of his
fingers, says, "All safe!" With a nod of recognition the stranger
makes his adieu; the fastenings are cast away, the faint tinkle of a
bell is heard amid the roar of steam; the man at the valves touches
the throttle bar; up mounts the piston rod-down it surges again; the
revolving wheels rustle the water; the huge craft moves backward
easy, and then ahead; a clanking noise denotes the connections are
"hooked on," and onward she bounds over the sea. How leaps with joy
that heart yearning for freedom, as the words "She's away!" gladden
Annette's very soul! Her enraptured feelings gush forth in prayer to
her deliverers; it is as a new spring of life, infusing its
refreshing waters into desert sands.
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