r breast.

"Madre de Dios! The water! I cannot!" she muttered. But Santiago
took her firmly by one elbow, Sturgis by the other, Davidov caught up
the children with a reassuring laugh, and in a moment she was trembling
in the middle of the canoe. Concha had already leaped into the second
and waved a careless little salutation to the Juno. Her eyes sparkled.
Her nostrils fluttered. She felt indifferent to everything but the
certain pleasure of the day. Rezanov was sure to be charming. What
mattered the morrow, and possible nights of doubt, despair, hatred of
life and wondering self-contempt?

Rezanov awaited the canoes in the prow of the ship. He wore undress
uniform and a cap instead of the cocked hat of ceremony which had
excited their awe. He too tingled with a sense of youthful gaiety and
adventure. As he helped his guests up the side of the vessel and
listened to the delightful laughter of the girls, saw the dancing eyes
of even the haughty and reserved Santiago, he also dismissed the morrow
from his thoughts.

As Dona Ignacia was hauled to the deck, uttering embarrassed apologies
for bringing the two little girls, Rezanov protested that he adored
children, patted their heads and told off a young sailor to amuse them.

Four tables on the deck were set with coffee, chocolate, Russian tea,
and strange sweets that the cook had fashioned from ingredients to
which his skilful fingers had long been strangers.

Dona Ignacia sat beside the host, and when she had tried both the tea
and the coffee and had demanded the recipe of the sweets, he said
casually: "After breakfast I shall ask you to go down to the cabin for
a few moments. I bought the cargo with the Juno, and find there are
several articles which I shall beg as a great favor to present to my
kindest hostesses and the young girls she has been good enough to bring
to my ship. Shawls and ells of cotton and all that sort of thing are
of no use to a bachelor, and I hope you will rid me of some of them."

Dona Ignacia lost all interest in the breakfast, and presently,
murmuring an excuse, was escorted by Langsdorff down to the cabin.
When the light repast was over, Rezanov made a signal to several
sailors who awaited commands, and they sprang to the anchor and sails.

"We are going to have a cruise," announced the host to his guests.
"The bay is very smooth, there is a fine breeze, we shall neither be
becalmed nor otherwise the sport of inclement waters