uts out
into the Gulf Stream is some wide and watery jump. No places to get
off at in between, so far as I can dope out. It's just a case of
buttin' right out into the Atlantic and keepin' on and on.

We hadn't got past Scotland Lightship before the _Agnes_ begins that
monotonous heave-and-drop stunt. Course, it ain't any motion worth
mentionin', but somehow it sort of surprises you to find that it keeps
up so constant. It's up and down, up and down, steady as the tick of a
clock; and every time you glance over the rail or through a porthole
you see it's quite a ride you take. I didn't mind goin' up a bit; it's
that blamed feelin' of bein' let down that's annoyin'.

For a while there I was more or less busy helping Old Hickory get his
floating office straightened out and taking down a few code messages
for the wireless man to send back to the general offices while we was
still within easy strikin' distance. It was when I planted myself in a
wicker chair 'way back by the stern, and begun watchin' that slow,
regular lift and dip of the deck, that I felt this lump come in my
throat and begun wonderin' what it was I'd had for lunch that I
shouldn't. My head felt kind of mean, too, sort of dull and throbby,
and I expect I wasn't as ruddy in the face as I might have been.

Then up comes Vee, lookin' as fresh and nifty as if she was just
steppin' out on the Avenue; and before I can duck behind anything she's
spotted me.

"Why, Torchy," says she, "you don't mean to say you're feeling badly
already! Or is it because you're leaving New York?"

Then I saw my alibi. I sighs and gazes mushy hack towards the land.

"I can't help it," says I. "I think a heap of that little old burg.
It--it's been mother and father to me--all that sort of thing. I've
hardly ever been away from it, you know, and I--I--" Here I smiles sad
and makes a stab at swallowin' the lump.

"What a goose!" says Vee, but pats me soothin' on the shoulder. "Come,
let's do a few turns around the deck."

"Thanks," says I, "but I guess I'd better just sit here quiet and--and
try to forget."

"Nonsense!" says Vee. "That's a silly way to act. Besides, you ought
to tramp around and get the feel of the boat. You'll be noticing the
motion if you don't."

"Pooh!" says I. "What this old boat does is beneath my notice. She's
headed away from Broadway, that's all I know about her. But if you
want someone to trail around the deck with, I'm ready. On