THE DREAM SHIP 



51 



inch by inch it fought the current, and 

 continued to fight it for the hour or more 

 we were obliged to wait on the pilot's 

 pleasure. 



Something ought to be done about those 

 passes into Tonga Tabu. The pilot does 

 not know the difference between an in- 

 ternational code signal and a burgee, so 

 he admitted when he had clambered 

 aboard and allowed his canoe to float 

 away on the tide. 



"I didn't know who you were," he 

 apologized. "Thought you might be a 

 local trading cutter." 



There are moments too full for words, 

 and this was one. In stony silence he 

 steered us through the most fearsome 

 network of reefs we had yet encountered, 

 and the Dream Ship was soon made fast 

 to a buoy not twenty yards from Nuku- 

 lofa wharf. 



A SINISTER FIGURE BOARDS THE DREAM 

 SHIP 



It was here that the port doctor 

 boarded us, in company with a genial 

 gentleman, who, if I had known then 

 what I know now, would never have set 

 foot aboard. He said very little until later 

 in the day, when I met him at the cosy 

 Nukulofa Club. 



"Do you want to sell that boat of 

 yours?" he asked me. 



"No," said I. 



"Will you sell her?" he corrected him- 

 self. 



"Not for what any sane man would be 

 inclined to pay," I told him. 



"And what is that, may I ask?" 



More as a jest than anything else, I 

 named a figure sufficiently preposterous 

 to raise a laugh from most people. But 

 the genial gentleman did not laugh. 



"You would take no less " he sug- 

 gested gravely. 



"Not a cent," said I. "As a matter of 

 fact — " 



"I suppose a draft on will satisfy 



you ?" 



"What's that?" I stammered. 



"I'll take her." said the genial gentle- 

 man. "I was saying that — " 



But I heard no more. I had sold the 

 Dream Ship! 



Confession is said to be good for the 

 soul, but I have not noticed much im- 

 provement in the state of my own since 



making the above statement. Imagine 

 parting for pelf with a home that has 

 conveyed you across twelve thousand 

 miles of ocean ; or. better, try to imagine 

 selling your best friend, and you have 

 some idea of my feelings since the trans- 

 action. 



THE DREAM SHIP VANISHES IN A 

 COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION 



There was no going back on it. I have 

 not the moral courage for such deeds. 

 The draft lay on the table before me. I 

 had a pocketful of money and no ship. 

 I have never been more miserable in mv 

 life. 



It took me the best part of an hour's 

 aimless wandering over the powdered 

 coral roads of Nukulofa to summon the 

 necessary courage to break the news to 

 the crew of the Dream Ship, but by the 

 end of that time I had some sort of 

 scheme evolved. 



Between Tonga and Australia there 

 were no islands of particular interest, 

 anyway. We would continue our journey 

 by steamer — it would be a pleasant 

 change — and in Australia I would invest 

 my ill-gotten gains in a far more mag- 

 nificent vessel than the Dream Ship. 



On this "more magnificent" craft we 

 would carry out our original program of 

 cruising up the Queensland coast to the 

 islands of the northwest Pacific, and so 

 home via Java, Colombo, and the Suez, 

 thereby avoiding the monotonous passage 

 between Tonga and Australia. 



Rather clever, I thought. 



Nevertheless I prefer to draw a veil 

 over the communication of this brilliant 

 scheme to the rest of the crew. It is 

 enough that we took our departure by 

 steamer according to schedule and with- 

 out daring to look back on the good ship 

 we had left behind. 



We then proceeded to rub shoulders 

 with a horde of fellow-passengers, who 

 no doubt regarded us as unattractive as 

 we regarded them : to consume beet tea 

 at II o'clock, and push lumps of wood 

 about the deck with a stick for want of 

 something better to do. 



A VAIN SEARCH FOR ANOTHER SIMP 



In Australia I went in search of the 

 "far more magnificent ship." yet one 



