CHAPTER XX.
THE OCCIDENT AND THE ORIENT MEET.
The ship was twenty-four days in reaching Melbourne. It caught a galecrossing the stormy Bight, and for two days no progress was made. It wasall that the men in charge could do to hold the plunging craft up intothe face of the storm and meet the big seas as they rolled, furious, upagainst her stem. But the winds were laid at last, the ship was put uponher course and her natural speed resumed. On the afternoon of thetwenty-fourth day the ship passed between the heads of Port Philip, andtwo hours later came to anchor before Sandridge, three miles belowMelbourne. Going ashore, Sedgwick cabled to his wife his arrival on hisway to San Francisco, "as first letters from Port Natal would explain,"and added: "Hope to be with you in one hundred days. Write, careOccidental Hotel, San Francisco." Then he took the night train forSidney, and arrived there the next night about nine o'clock.
Going to a hotel, he found that the first steamer for San Francisco wouldsail on the next day but one.
He then sought his first sleep in a comfortable house, with modernimprovements, that he had found since he left London.
Next morning he went early and secured transportation on the steamer,then returned and wrote a long letter to his girl-bride; then engaging arig took in as much of Sidney as he could. Next morning he cabled hiswife that he was just going to sea again, and boarded the steamer early.The ship sailed promptly at midday, and as it passed out of thebeautiful harbor the islands and shores beyond were just putting on thevestments of spring. Sedgwick had never before seen spring approaching inOctober; never before had he heard the love-calls of mating birds at thatseason, and apparently had never before realized so keenly that he was onthe other side of the world from those whom he loved and knew. Afterdinner he went on deck. He knew no one on board, and he was nearer beinghomesick than he had ever been before. It was a balmy night. The sea wastumbling a little from the effects of a far-off storm, but the ship wasriding the waves superbly and making rapid progress, and the stars wereall out and sweeping grandly on in their never-ending, statelyprocessions.
In the midst of his thoughts, when he was fast giving way to a mightyfit of the blues, he happened to glance upward. _Corona Australis_was blazing with unwonted brilliancy, and, it seemed to him, theconstellation was making signs to him from its signal station in theheavens. Instantly he thought of the night that he and Jordan hadparticularly noticed it, and of what the great-hearted man had said. Thenhe thought of his friend; how unselfishly he had turned his face awayfrom the ship that would have carried him to a pleasanter country, andhad voluntarily gone back into that profound wilderness to work outa trust which would require months of time; and he said to himself: "Whata selfish creature I am to repine, when I have been so blessed; when inEngland an angel is waiting for me; when in the depths of Africa a bravesoul by his every act is teaching me lessons of self-abnegation."
A moment later another thought came to him which was a delight, and thatwas that with every revolution of the screw he was drawing nearer to hisGrace. When an hour later he retired to his state-room he hummed a song ashe went, and the throbbing of the machinery and the wash of the seasagainst the ship's beam made his lullaby, as the long roll of the steamerrocked him to sleep.
As before stated, Sedgwick had written his wife fully at Port Natal. Twodays after he left, the steamer from the North came in. It remained fivedays, and then started North again. Its mails were eighteen days inreaching London.
Grace was looking for a letter from Port Natal, when Sedgwick's cablefrom Melbourne reached her. She could not quite comprehend the matteruntil, a day later, his letter came, and the next day his second cable,announcing that he was just about to sail for San Francisco. That day shedid what she had not done since she left school--got a map of the worldand studied it until she put her finger on a spot between Sidney and NewZealand, and said: "He is there now," and bent and kissed the place onthe map.
That evening she went over from her home to call upon Jack and Rose.There she found a gentleman who, with his wife and daughter, were goingto sail two days later for Australia, via New York and San Francisco.Their names were Hobart. Grace had known them ever since her father hadmoved to London. They were talking of their proposed journey, when theyoung lady said gaily: "Mrs. Sedgwick, come along with us as far as NewYork, or San Francisco at least." At this the father and mother togetherseconded the invitation.
"Do you really mean it?" said Grace.
"Indeed we do," said all three.
"And when do you sail?" asked Grace.
"Early, day after to-morrow. That is, we leave here early and sail atnoon," said Mr. Hobart. "We have two full staterooms engaged. You canroom with Lottie"--the young lady's name--"and be companion for us all."
"I will be ready day after to-morrow morning," said Grace, seriously.
"Not in earnest?" said Rose.
"In sober earnest," said Grace.
"To New York?" said Browning.
"To New York, and may be farther," was the reply.
"As far as Ohio, I guess," said Jack.
"May be as far as Ohio," said Grace, and she smiled as she spoke.
The Hobarts were delighted, but Jack and Rose looked serious.
"It is a long way, Gracie," said Jack.
"A fearfully long way," said Rose.
"Suppose, Rose, that Jack was as far away, would you think it a long wayto go to see him?" asked Grace.
"O, Gracie! No, no," said Rose.
"When did you hear last from your husband?" asked Hobart.
"This afternoon," said Grace.
"And how long, Grace, before he will be in England?" asked Jack.
It was the first time any question had been asked of her more than thequestion if she had heard, and if he was well.
"About one hundred days, I think," said Grace; "that is," she added, "ifI go and find him and bring him home."
Next day Grace made all her arrangements and was ready to leave early onthe following morning. Parting with her mother was her great sorrow, butthe mother approved of her going, and the good-byes were not so sad asthough they did not expect to be soon again reunited.
They made the voyage to New York in nine days. Remaining one day in thatcity, they started West; stopped one day in Chicago, and reached SanFrancisco seventeen days from Liverpool.
Hobart had been in San Francisco before, and wanted to stop at the LickHouse, but Grace insisted that her friends liked the Occidental best; sothey went to the Occidental.
Four days after reaching San Francisco, the Hobarts sailed for Australia.They urged Grace to accompany them, but she declined, saying, with asmile, that she believed for the present she preferred the solid earth tothe unstable sea. She saw her friends aboard the steamer; then returningto the hotel, sent for the manager, Major H.; explained that she expectedher husband by the first steamer from Australia; that he did not expectto find her; so she wished to surprise him, and desired the finestapartments in the hotel, including a private dining-room; and requestedthat when it was known that the ship was coming up the harbor, the roomsshould be elaborately dressed with flowers. She also stipulated that herhusband, on his coming, should be conducted to his apartments without anyknowledge that any one was waiting for him.
Major H., captivated by the little English lady, entered into the fullspirit of the programme and promised that he would personally attend tothe matter.
Grace was transferred to the new rooms, and thereafter had her mealsserved in her own dining-room.
Three days later, about one p.m., a message came that the Australiansteamer had at noon been sighted outside the Heads, and was then enteringthe Golden Gate.
The flowers were forthcoming; the apartments were swiftly decorated; thenGrace, with the utmost painstaking, robed herself in her richest costumeand seated herself in the private dining-room, with the sliding doorsslightly ajar so that she could look through into the parlor of the suitewithout being seen.
The suspense was fearful
to her for half an hour. Would he really come?Separating in London, and he traveling east, would she by coming westfind him? Would he be well? Had he really escaped the African fever andall the dangers that lurked in the weary stretches of treacherousbillows?
Those were a few of the questions she was asking herself, when, in thehall, a well-known voice rang out which made her heart bound. It wassaying: "There must be an oversight somewhere. I surely ought to have hadsome letters awaiting me."
The door opened, and the hearty voice of Major H. was heard by thelistener. "These are your apartments, Mr. Sedgwick," he said, "andI trust you will find them pleasant."
Then the other occupant said: "But I do not care for any such rich roomsas these; any little corner will suffice for me."
"Oh no," said the Major. "Try these quarters for a day or two, and if bythat time you wish to exchange them for others, we will see to it. We tryto please our Australian friends, for we hope for more and more of themthroughout all the years to come."
With that he closed the door.
"Australia!" Grace heard her husband say. "I'm no Australian; I'm afull-blooded African, a regular Boer or Kaffir, and no mistake. But,bless my soul, this is a fairy spot! A way-up place, surely! Fromthe depths of Africa and the society of Boers and Kaffirs to an enchantedpalace! This must be the bridal chamber of the establishment. I believethey have made a mistake and think me the King of the Pearl and OpalIslands. I wish dear old Jordan could see this. I wish, O God, I wish myGrace, my queen, could see this, that I might first crown her withflowers, and then fall down and worship her!"
She could bear the tension no longer. Pushing the doors back quickly, shestood pale, but radiant, for an instant, before the astonished man; thenstretching out her divine arms, said, "O, my darling!"