At this moment there came a knock at the door, and when it was opened the quartermaster began to say, “Excuse me, sir, but here’s another――” Before he could finish his sentence a small furry object jerked away from him with such force that it took a header into the room, and landed at the feet of the commander on all fours, like a little bear.
“Bless my soul! What’s this?” cried Captain Matthews, springing to one side in dismay.
“It’s a baby!” screamed Miss May, darting forward and snatching up the child. “A darling little Indian in furs. Where did it come from?”
“Great Scott!” exclaimed Phil, remorsefully. “To think that we should have forgotten Nel-te!”
“Are there any more yet to come?” demanded the captain.
“No, sir; the whole ship’s company is present _and_ accounted for,” replied Jalap Coombs. “But with your leave, sir, I’ll just step out and take a look at our boat, for she’s a ticklish craft to navigate, and might come to grief in strange hands.”
So saying, the honest fellow, glad of an excuse to escape from the cabin, where he felt awkward and out of place, as well as uncomfortably warm in his fur garments, pulled at the fringe of long wolf’s hairs surrounding his face, and shuffled away. A few minutes later saw him in the forecastle, where, divested of his unsailor-like parka, puffing with infinite zest at one of the blackest of pipes filled with the blackest of tobacco, and the centre of an admiring group of seamen, he was spinning incredible yarns of his recent and wonderful experiences with snow-shoes and sledges.
In the meantime May Matthews was delightedly winning Nel-te’s baby affections, while Phil and Serge were still plying the captain with questions.
“Were you saying, sir, that you feared you couldn’t take us to Sitka?” inquired Serge, anxiously.
“Not at all, my lad,” replied the captain. “I was about to remark that I feared you would not care to go there now, seeing that there is hardly any one in Sitka whom you want to see, unless it is your mother and sisters and Phil Ryder’s father and aunt Ruth.”
“What!” cried Phil, “my Aunt Ruth! Are you certain, sir?”
“Certain I am,” replied Captain Matthews, “that if both the individuals I have just mentioned aren’t already in Sitka, they will be there very shortly, for I left them in San Francisco preparing to start at once. Moreover, I have orders to carry your father to St. Michaels, where he expects to find you. So now you see in what a complication your turning up in this outlandish fashion involves me.”