She began to laugh weakly. Oh, nothing at all, of course! Tears—never very far from laughter in Irish eyes—rose rebelliously, and Eveleen turned quickly to gaze at the shore whose first appearance she had hailed with so much joy.
There was nothing particularly attractive about the long line of mud-coloured coast backed by low mud-coloured hills, beyond a wide—still horribly wide—waste of tumbling waters; but it was land, blessed solid land! The man against whom she had cannoned spoke suddenly—she had the instant idea that he had been trying to make up his mind whether the circumstances warranted his addressing her without an introduction. The cabin may have seemed uncommon incommodious to you, but in order that you and your companions might enjoy it, four of the gentlemen on board had no cabin at all.
But when charming ladies take it into their pretty heads to go there, what is poor Hubby to do? And you must. The best I can wish you is that you may find how true it is! This time he did lose his footing, and went slipping and sliding across the deck till he was brought up by the bulwarks. But it was difficult to maintain an attitude of dignified displeasure in the circumstances. Her husband smiled superior.
Now you will have an opportunity of experiencing the full pleasure of landing at Bab-us-Sahel. It might be worse, however, for the tide is fairly high. Privately Eveleen wondered how low water could possibly make the landing worse, when the passengers and their luggage had been transferred from the rolling steamer to an equally unsteady tug, and thence into large open boats, in which the water seemed terribly near—and actually was, as she discovered on finding the wet mounting higher and higher up her skirts.
They were to land at a pier, she knew, which was comforting, but alas! Dazed, shaken, and sea-sick, Eveleen had no pride left. What would they do then? She opened one eye weakly, and discerned figures on the pier. It was something to have reduced Richard to speechless indignation, were it but for a moment. Glad to see you, my dear fellow! As the canoe rocked this way and that with the motion of the waves, he seemed to be performing the wildest acrobatic feats, as though it were the pier and not the boat that rose and fell.
