Page:Pacific Monthly volumes 9 and 10.djvu/61



On Beacon f)iU^ Victoria^ B. C.

By C R. 6. l^cXnms

"/ iotP a ship a- mailing"

Prone on a grassy knoll where runs the

. sea In from the North Pacific deep and blue, Whose tide-ript waters many a century But parted for the painted war-canoe, Till Juan de Fuca and his swarthy crew Sailed on a treasure-quest to regions cold, Idle I dream'd a summer-evening through, Watching the ruddy, western sun enfold The snowy-peak'd Olympians in transient gold.

"AN EMPRESS LINER. INWARD-BOUND"

Our air hath yet a tang of Spanish days, And hazard edge of fortune from the past Of pioneers, and wreckt and curious

strays From far-oflF lands along this coast up- cast Since brave Vancouver from his eager

mast Beheld the Island of his lasting fame, And turning to its pleasant shore made

fast, And while his stalwart tars gave loud acclaim Kais'd high the Union Jack in old King George's name.

Across the rocky harbor-mouth still fall Echoes to tell of England's easy crown; And brassy bugles from the barracks call A challenge to the careless little town That lies like a pretty maid in tatter'd gown — 'Mid tangled gardens — tempting one to halt Where gnarled oaks with ivy over-grown Are all accord with her one charming fault- - So drowsy nigh the hidden guns of Esqui- mau.

And nonchalant lay I that afternoon, For all the air a sweet aroma bore, .\nd I could hear the tumult and the tune Of tumbling waves along the pebbled

shore. Such gipsy joys to me were ever more Than chase of gold or fame; but still

for all I felt the the first thin tremor o'er and

o'er Of some vast traffic without interval To traverse soon these waterways imperial.

Where now some tug-boat leaves a smoky trail

To pencil on the air a coiling blot

Athwart the lighthouse; or the infre- quent sail

6f some slow lumber-bark or wandering yacht,

Or some gray battleship all grimly wrought

Glides by schooners from the Arctic seas.

To largely feed the crowded world, me- thought,

Here soon shall pass swift-sailing argo- sies, Full-freighted with the wheat of prairie granaries.

And musing thus upon that idle mound. Far down the reach of waters to the rfght I saw an Empress-liner inward bound Speeding thro' the Narrows trim and

white. And every moment growing on my sight Like something clear unfolding, in a

dream. Her very motion was a clean delight That woke the sapphire sea to curl and

cream Smoothly off her curving prow and snowy

beam.

And easily as up the Straits she roll'd, My vagrant fancy fairy-eyed could see. Bulging richly 'gainst her steely hold, Bales of splendid silk piled solidly With matted rice and tons of fragrant tea, Or else, her quainter cargo fain to scan. Wee China toys in silver filagree, And tawny ivories of old Japan — Packed with iris-woven riLg» from