Page:From the West to the West.djvu/277



XXXVIII

THE BROTHERS JOURNEY HOMEWARD

TOGETHER

THE steamer in which the Ranger brothers embarked for San Francisco was an ancient and somewhat decrepit tub, as much unlike the floating palaces that plough the Pacific Ocean to-day as the long railway trains with their Pullman coaches, cushioned seats, and electric bells are unlike the prairie schooners which belabored oxen hauled across deserts and mountains when the oldest pioneer of to-day was young, and Captain Ranger was in his prime.

"We 're at the jumping-off place," said the elder brother, when the vessel stopped at Astoria. "There will never be a chance for the restive American citizen to get any farther west than the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean. And yet who knows?" he added, after a pause. "Burns has a theory in which, after all, there may be some logic. He says that the entire planet will some day be under the management of an affiliated government formed by a few great powers, who will organize an alliance to control, and maybe protect, the weaker nationalities from one another. Jean is enthusiastic over the theme."

"You seem to set great store by Jean."

"Oh, I don't know. She's about raking up a new engagement with that Green River chap. If she does, she'll marry soon, and get immersed in the cares of a family, like all the rest of the girls. If so, she'll never amount to much."

"No great general can do as much for the world, no matter how many nations he conquers, as t