The scene
was affecting in the extreme. Several of the oldest seamen--men
who had gone through scenes of suffering with tearless eyes and
unblanched cheeks--now retired to the spirit-room to conceal their
emotion. A few went into caucus in the forecastle, and returned
with the request that the Amazonian queen should hereafter be known
as the "Queen of the Pirates' Isle."
"Mother!" gasped the Pirate Prodigy.
"My son!" screamed the Amazonian queen.
They embraced. At the same moment a loud flop was heard on the
quarter-deck. It was the forgotten mermaid, who, emerging from her
state-room and ascending the companion-way at that moment, had
fainted at the spectacle. The Pirate Prodigy rushed to her side
with a bottle of smelling-salts.
She recovered slowly. "Permit me," she said, rising with dignity,
"to leave the ship. I am unaccustomed to such conduct."
"Hear me--she is my mother!"
"She certainly is old enough to be," replied the mermaid; "and to
speak of that being her own hair!" she added with a scornful laugh,
as she rearranged her own luxuriant tresses with characteristic
grace, a comb, and a small hand-mirror.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181