Page:Ralph Paine--The praying skipper.djvu/291

Rh called "a little drill, to see if you are all-ship-shape-put together, mit your standin' riggin' taut."

These embarrassments delayed the departure until late in the afternoon.

In his one decent suit of blue serge, which had been lovingly pressed by the station cook, Brainard swung his luggage as if it were as light as his heart. He turned once to look at the red-roofed station nestling close to the sand-dunes, and for a moment felt as if he were playing the traitor to those loyal big-hearted comrades of his. Every one of them had fought with adverse fortune, and, beaten back, met the odds with smiling faces. He was the youngest of the crew and the pineapple plantation would yet release him from his chosen bondage. On this "day off" he ought to be back in the clearing by the lagoon, "bossing" his one laborer, but he looked ahead, and his young blood thrilled at the thought of glimpsing his own world again.

Northward from the station the coast swept seaward in a bold curve which ended in a low point over which the breakers