e shape of a social revolution or
earthquake--that would place the little girl in his possession again.

And yet he trembled as he muttered the wish.

"How long would I keep her? I had such a girl once--her very
counterpart--the sweet Inez, my own; and yet she is gone, and who
shall say how long this one shall be mine?"

The weather remained all that could be wished for a number of days
after steaming out of the Golden Gate. It was in the month of
September, when a mild, dreamy languor seemed to rest upon everything,
and the passage across the Pacific was like one long-continued dream
of the Orient--excepting, perhaps, when the cyclone or hurricane,
roused from its sleep, swept over the deep with a fury such as strews
the shores with wrecks and the bottom with multitudes of bodies.

What more beautiful than a moonlight night on the Pacific?

The _Polynesia_ was plowing the vast waste of waters which separates
the two worlds, bearing upon her decks and in her cabins passengers
from the four quarters of the globe.

They came from, and were going to, every portion of the wide world.
Some were speeding toward their homes in Asia or Africa or the islands
of the sea; and others living in Europe or America, or the remote
corners of the earth, would finally return, after wandering over
strange places, seeing singular sights, and treading in the footsteps
of the armies who had gone before them in the dim ages of the past.

Now and then the great ship rose from some mighty swell, and then,
settling down, drove ahead, cleaving the calm water and leaving a wide
wake of foam behind. The black smoke poured out of the broad funnels,
and sifted upward through the scant rigging, and was dissipated in the
clear air above. The throbbing of the engine made its pulsations felt
through the ponderous craft from stem to stern, as a giant breathes
more powerfully when gathering his energy for the final effort of the
race. A few drifting clouds moved along the sky, while, now and then,
a starlike point of light, far away against the horizon, showed where
some other caravansary of the sea was moving toward its destination,
thousands of leagues away.

Although Captain Strathmore was on duty, and it was against the rules
for any passenger to approach or address him, yet there was one who
was unrestrained by rules or regulations, no matter how sternly they
were enforced in other cases.

The captain was standing on the bridge, when he felt