Ralph D. Paine

“ As the tropical city and its palm-gardens vanished behind Diamond Head, a girl in her early teens walked forward along the promenade deck and said laughingly:
"You must be worn out, admiral. You did give me such a good time ashore, and I never let you rest, did I?"
The grizzled old sailor, who was for once a passenger, freed of sea cares, caressed the rumpled brown head and said:
"Well, when a young lady, not quite sixteen, is going all the way to Manila by herself to cheer up a lonely daddy, we old folks ought to take good care of her. ”

“ And, let me see; there's Captain Holt of the Southern Cross! He sent to my room an armful of Hawaiian flowers, and—I'm a very lucky girl, admiral."
The admiral smiled at her enthusiasm and said to himself as she ran away to seek her other lavish friends:
"People are nice to her because she's as—good and sweet as she is pretty. And now she's all her father has left. She's been a little trump to stay in boarding-school these two years, and then sail off alone across the Pacific when her daddy couldn't do without her a minute longer."
Marion had dreaded this voyage. ”

“ It seemed so long to be at sea—a whole month—among strangers, all bound for the other side of the world. But with a brave heart she had boarded the Southern Cross at San Francisco to find that all her fears were foolish. Her fellow passengers soon learned her story, and were anxious to be her friends, guardians, and playmates. ”