CHAPTER VIII
A STOLEN EXCURSION
Barbara stopped at the top of James Street and looked down hill to theriver. The afternoon was dark and the pavement wet. Thin fog driftedabout the tall offices, lights shone in the windows, and she heardsteamers' whistles. Down the street, a white plume of steam, streakingthe dark-colored fog, marked the tunnel station, and Barbara glanced ata neighboring clock.
She could get a train in a few minutes, but she would be forced to waitat a station on the Cheshire side, and there was not another train forsome time. She had bought the things she needed and did not know what todo. One could pass half an hour at a cafe; but Mrs. Cartwright did notlike her to go to a cafe; alone and Barbara frowned impatiently. Hermother was horribly conventional and Barbara missed the freedom she hadenjoyed in Canada. In fact, it was very dull at home; Grace's correctserenity and cold disapproval made one savage; Mortimer's very properfriends were tiresome.
Barbara was restless and dissatisfied. She wanted to play an active partand feel she was alive. Moreover, since she came home she had felt shewas being watched, and, so to speak, protected from herself. Herrelations had forgiven her Canadian escapade, but they meant to guardagainst her doing something of the kind again. Perhaps from their pointof view, they were justified, but Barbara was not tempted to make afresh experiment. She had not yet got over the shock; she saw how nearher romantic trustfulness had brought her to disaster and thought herfaith in men and women had gone. This was perhaps the worst, because shewas generous and had frankly trusted people she liked.
Now she imagined the gloomy day had re-acted on her spirits. She wasmoody and longed for something that would banish the dreariness.Starting down hill for the station, she stopped abruptly a few momentsafterwards. Lister was crossing the street, and if she went on theywould meet. It was some time since she had seen him and she noted withsurprise that he wore a rather soiled blue uniform. His cap, which had abadge in front, was greasy, and he carried an oilskin coat.
He walked quickly, looking straight in front, with his head well up, andBarbara got a hint of purposeful activity. Barbara liked him much, butshe had, as a rule, quietly baffled his efforts to know her better. Shewaited, rather hoping he would pass, until he looked round and advancedto meet her.
"I'm lucky!" he remarked, and his satisfaction was comforting. "It'slong since I have seen you."
"You know our house," Barbara rejoined.
"Oh, well," he said with a twinkle, "when I last came, you talked to mefor about two minutes and then left me to play billiards with yourbrother. He was polite, but in Canada we play pool and my game's notvery good. I imagined he was bored."
"Mortimer is like that," said Barbara. "But why are you wearing thesteamship badge and sailor's clothes?"
Lister laughed. "They're engineer's clothes. I go to sea; that's anotherreason I didn't come over."
"Ah," said Barbara. "Did my step-father get you a post on board ship?"
"He did not. He told me to look him up at the office, but I didn't go.One would sooner not bother one's friends."
"Canadians are an independent lot," Barbara remarked. "In this country,we use our friends for all they are worth, and we're justified so longas they want to help. If Cartwright said he would help, he meant to doso. But what ship are you on board?"
"_Ardrigh_, cross-channel cattle boat. She's unloading Irish steers,sheep and pigs not far off. Will you come and see her? I don't supposeyou've been on board a Noah's ark before."
Barbara did not hesitate. She doubted if Mrs. Cartwright would approveand knew Grace would not, but this was not important. Grace disapprovedall she did and the stolen excursion would break the monotony. ThenLister's twinkling smile appealed, and somehow her reserve vanished whenshe was out of doors with him.
"I'd like to go," she said.
"Then, come along," he urged, and they started for the elevated railwayat the bottom of the street.
While the electric cars rolled along the docks Barbara's moodiness went.She could not see much in the fog. Wet warehouse roofs, masts andfunnels, and half-seen hulls floating on dull water, loomed up andvanished. Inside the car, lights glimmered on polished wood; therattling and shaking were somehow cheerful. Barbara felt braced andalert. Lister talked and she laughed. She could not hear all he said,because of the noise, and thought he did not hear her, but she did notmind. She liked his cheerfulness and frank satisfaction. The gloomoutside and the blurred lights in the fog gave the excursion a touch ofromantic adventure.
They got down at a station by a muddy dock-road. Ponderous lorries withgiant horses rolled out of the gloom between stacks of goods; wet cattlewere entangled in the press of traffic, and Barbara was relieved whenLister pushed back a sliding door. Then she stopped for a moment, halfdaunted by the noise and bustle, and looked about.
Big lights hung from the room of the long shed, but did not pierce thegloom that lurked between the piles of cargo. A flock of sheep, movingin a dense woolly mass, came down a gangway; squealing pigs occupied abay across the piles of goods. The front of the shed was open and inplaces one saw a faint reflection that looked like water. OppositeBarbara, the gap between the low roof and dock-sill was filled by adeckhouse and a steamer's funnel. Steam blew across the opening fartheron, and in the vapor bales and boxes shot up and rattling chains plungeddown. Through the roar of the winches she heard coarse shouts and thebellowing of cattle.
Lister took her to a slanting plank that spanned a dark gulf and she sawdim water and then the hollow of a steamer's hold. Men who looked likeghosts moved in the gloom and indistinct cattle came up a railed plank.Barbara could not see where they came from; they plunged out of thedark, their horns glimmering in the beam of the lamps.
After a few moments Lister helped her down on the steamer's bridge-deck.The boat listed away from the wall. Her tall red funnel was inclinedsharply, much of her side was above water, and muddy streams poured fromthe scuppers on the after deck, where men with long boots pulled ahose-pipe about. The boat was horribly dirty, but her lean bows and thelength of the iron engine-room casing indicated speed.
A man came along the bridge-deck, and Barbara thought the gold bands onhis cap indicated the captain. He stopped and when he glanced at Listershe blushed, for there was a hint of sympathetic understanding in hersmile.
"We won't want you until high-water," he said and went off.
Barbara hoped Lister had not seen her blush and thought he had not. Hetook her down some iron steps and to a door in a dark passage.
"Our mess-room," he said. "I expect it's the quietest spot on board theship."
He pushed the door open and stopped. The small room was bright withelectric light and a young man and woman sat opposite each other at thetable. The man's uniform was stained by oil; the girl was pretty andfashionably dressed, but Barbara knew her clothes were cheap. She stoodat the door, hesitating, and the man gave Lister a smile like thecaptain's.
"I didn't expect you yet, but come in," he said. "The tea's not cold,and Mike has made some doughnuts."
"Mr. Robertson, my chief," Lister said to Barbara, and the man presentedLister to his companion, and put a machine in a box on the floor. "Nowthere's room; I was pulling out the indicator diagrams," he added."Won't you take off your coat, Miss Hyslop, and try Mike's doughnuts?"
The little room was hot, and when Barbara hung up her furs she noted theother girl's appraising glance. Miss Grant poured some black tea from abig cracked pot and pushed across a tin of condensed milk and a plate ofgreasy buns. When Barbara picked one up and looked at it doubtfullyRobertson opened a drawer.
"We pull ours in two, but I expect you'd like a knife," he said.
He found a knife, which he rubbed on the table-cloth. "I used the thingon the indicator, the contraption in the box, but I think it's cleanenough."
Barbara ate her doughnut and drank the bitter tea. Miss Grant lookedfriendly and she liked the engineer. They were frank, human people, andshe thought them kind. Robertson beg
an to talk about carpets, gas-stovesand pans, and Miss Grant told Barbara what the articles cost. They hadbeen buying furniture and Robertson stated they were to be married soon.
"I reckon you haven't got so far yet," he said to Lister, and whenBarbara saw Miss Grant touch him she blushed. It was ridiculous, but theblood came to her skin, and then, noting Lister's embarrassment, shebegan to laugh.
"Jim _will_ talk like that!" Miss Grant remarked.
"Oh, well," said Robertson, "I expect it's rather soon. Mr. Listerhasn't joined us long, and you don't begin at the top." He turned toBarbara with an encouraging smile. "All the same, he knows his job andhas got one move up. Perhaps if he sticks to it, for a year or two--"
Miss Grant stopped him and asked Barbara's views about curtains. She hadsome patterns, and while they contrasted the material and the prices thedoor opened and a greasy, red-haired fellow gave the group a benevolentgrin.
"Was thim doughnuts all right?" he inquired.
"I've had better, but you've made some worse, Mike," Robertson replied.
"Yez said _tea for two_. If ye'd told me it was a party, I'd have beenafther stealing the captain's Cork butter. A cook cannot do his bestwhin the shore-steward sends him engine-grease. Annyhow, whin ye'reyoung an' romantic, what's it mather what ye ate?"
He went off and Robertson began to talk about _Ardrigh_. He was naivelyproud of the boat and his engines, and narrated hard runs in bad weatherto land the livestock in time for important markets. Sometimes thehollow channel-seas that buried the plunging forecastle filled the decksand icy cataracts came down the stokehold gratings. Sometimes the cattlepens broke and mangled bullocks rolled about in the water and wreckage.
Robertson had a talent for narrative and Barbara felt something of theterror and lure of the sea. She liked the _Ardrigh's_ rather grimy crew,their cheerfulness and rude good-humor. They did useful things, bigthings now and then; they were strong, warm-blooded fellows, notpolished loafers like Mortimer's friends. Then she approved Miss Grant'sfrank pride in her lover. There was something primitive about thesepeople. They were, so to speak, human, and not ashamed of theirhumanity. Lister was somehow like them; she wondered whether this hadattracted her. Perhaps she was attracted, but the attraction must not beindulged.
By and by Miss Grant resumed her talk about curtains, and when they hadagreed about the material that ought to wear best Barbara looked at herwatch. Miss Grant gave her her hand and Robertson declared she must comeback when the boat was in port again. Lister took her down the gangwayand was quiet until they reached the station. Then he smiledapologetically.
"You played up well. I didn't know Robertson was on board, but he's avery good sort. So's the girl, I think."
Barbara laughed. "I didn't play up; I liked the people. The excursionwas delightful; I've enjoyed it all."
Lister saw she was sincere and thrilled. He had begun to think he oughtnot to have suggested the adventure, but he was not sorry now; Barbarawas not bothered by ridiculous conventions. She talked gayly while thecars rolled along beside the warehouse walls, but when they got down atthe station she stopped in the middle of a sentence. Cartwright hadalighted from the next car and was a yard or two in front. Lister knewhis fur coat and rather dragging walk. If he and Barbara went on, theywould confront Cartwright when he turned to go down the steps.
Barbara gave him a twinkling glance and remarked that he knitted hisbrows but did not hesitate. In the few moments since her step-fatherleft the train she had seen three or four plans for avoiding him. Listerobviously had not, and on the whole she approved his honesty. Headvanced and touched Cartwright.
"I didn't know you were on board our train, sir."
Cartwright looked at him rather hard and Barbara waited. Although shehad been caught enjoying a stolen excursion, she was not afraid of herstep-father, but she was curious.
"I was in front," said Cartwright dryly. "Barbara has picked a ratherdreary day for a run to the north docks. I understood she was going tothe shops."
"Miss Hyslop met me near the station and I persuaded her to come and seemy ship."
"Then you have got a ship?" said Cartwright. "If you are not on duty,come to the office in the morning and tell me about the boat. In themeantime, I'll put Barbara on the tunnel train."
He went off with the girl, but Barbara turned her head and Lister sawher smile.
Lister's Great Adventure Page 18