n. And as the _Hispaniola_ set sail once
more, her prow pointed homeward, Johnnie looked back to where the
longshoreman was kneeling, hands appealingly upraised, beside those
certain three abandoned mutineers.

"And there y' stay," called Johnnie; "--for life!"

CHAPTER XXII

CIS TELLS A SECRET

CIS was seated on her narrow pallet, her back against the prized
excelsior cushion, her knees drawn up within the circle of her slender
arms. About her shoulders tumbled her hair, its glossy waves framing a
face, pale and tense, in which her eyes were wide pools of black.

Johnnie was just below her on the floor, his quilt spread under him for
comfort, a bare foot nursed in either hand. The combined positions were
such as invariably made for confidences. And he guessed that what she
had to tell him now was something unusually important and exciting.

"Johnnie," she whispered, and he saw himself dancing in those dark
pools; "--oh, if I don't tell it to somebody, I'll just _die_! Oh,
Johnnie, what do you think? What do you _think_?"

He thought; then, "New shoes?" he hazarded. "A new dress? A--a--more
money at the fact'ry? Or"--and in an excited rush--"another book!"

"_Oh!_" She lifted her face to the ceiling, wagging her head helplessly.
"Shoes! or a dress! or money! or a book! They're nothing, Johnnie,
alongside of the truth--just _nothing_!"

"Well, then, what?" he asked, leaning forward encouragingly. "Go on,
Cis! Tell me!"

"Johnnie Smith,"--impressively--"you're sitting beside a young lady
that's going to be married!"

Johnnie gasped. "_Married?_" He fell back from her, the better to stare.
He had expected an important communication; but he was not prepared for
anything so astounding as this.

She nodded. "Right away."

Going to be married! So that was why she seemed so different, so
changed! that was why she had been wearing her hair up, and fussing so
often with her nails! why she cared no longer for Edwarda! why she could
not see the people of his thinks! It was simple enough, now that he
understood. Of course with a wedding in view, naturally she was
grown-up; and a girl, whenever she got grown-up, could not let her
braids hang down her back. And as for fine hands-- "Y' mean y've heard
from the _Prince_?" he demanded.

She laughed. "No-o-o-o! Oh, Johnnie, you silly!"

He knit his brows and regarded her reprovingly. "Well," he argued, "y'
always told me how much y' love him."

"But I didn't e