The captain desired me to say that he's going to steam on directly."
I was just at the stage of my toilet which rendered it impossible for
me to open the door or come out, so I called through the keyhole:
"Please go with my compliments to the captain, and beg him to give me
ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, and tell my husband what is the
matter."
"I will go, ma'am," he answered; "but I am afraid the captain can't wait.
It is his duty to go on."
"Go!" I shouted; and he went.
In two minutes down came the negro again.
"Captain says it's impossible; in fact the ship's moving now."
Well, as we were tied to time and many other things, and could not afford
to miss our landing, I threw on a shawl and a petticoat, as one might in
a shipwreck, and rushed out with my hair down, crying to the steward:
"Bundle all my things into the boat as well as you can; and if anything
is left, take it back to the hotel at Bombay."
I hurried on deck, and to my surprise found that the steamer was not
moving at all. Richard and the captain were quietly chatting together,
and when they saw me all excited and dishevelled they asked me the
cause of my undress and agitation. When I told them, the captain said:
"I never sent any message of the kind. I told you last night I should
steam on at seven, and it is now only five."
I was intensely angry at the idea of a negro servant playing such a
practical joke.
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