you."

"It'll have to wait," said the captain, gruffly. "We are landing a cargo
of sugar machinery here, and I've got my hands full."

"I don't want your hands," said Bobby, quietly; "I want your ears.
There's something I've just got to tell you."

"I can't listen. I'm due on the bridge now."

He escaped for the time being, but later In the morning, when the
commotion of arrival was at its height, and the passengers were
beginning to go ashore, he found Bobby on the bridge beside him. He
fancied he saw defiance written all over her, from the crown of her
white hat to the tip of her white shoes.

"Captain," she said, "It won't take a minute."

He was on the point of refusing when she laid her hand on his.

"Cut away!" he said, looking straight ahead of him. "Make it short."

"It's about Mr. Hascombe. He's--he's asked me to marry him."

The captain jerked his hand away and brought it down on the rail with a
resounding blow.

"You sha'n't do it!" he thundered. "I'd see you sewed up in a bag and
dropped alongside first."

"But, Captain--"

"I won't have it! There's no use arguing. The idea of a girl of mine
being carried away by a condescending, conceited jack-in-the-box--"

"He _isn't_! He's a darling!" Bobby flashed out hotly. "It's just
that you don't understand him."

"What's more, I don't want to. I've had enough of him and his kind. If
I'd known you were going to run amuck of a thing like this, I'd have let
you bury yourself on the ranch for the rest of your life."

"Well," agreed Bobby, carefully studying her pink palm, and weighing her
words as one who is quite open to reason, "I think I could have been
happy with Hal; but you thought we were both too young and that I ought
to see some other men first."

"Yes, but I didn't know you were going to get your head turned by the
first fool that came lording it around with a valet and a title. The
Fords may be plain people, but, by Jugs! they are the sort to tie up to
in a squall."

Bobby smiled broadly under the brim of her hat.

"Then you advise me to take Hal?"

"I advise you to let me send this fellow Hascombe about his business.
I'll make short work of him."

Bobby slipped her arm through his, and looked up saucily.

"You needn't bother, dear," she said. "Now that it's all settled about
Hal, I don't mind telling you that I refused Mr. Hascombe last night."

* * * * *

On the gangway below, the passengers were