Or was it really the eye, and not rather the heart,
that identified that shadow in the dusk, among the
shoreside lamps? I know not. It was Jim, at least;
Jim, come for a last look; and we had but time to wave
a valedictory gesture and exchange a wordless cry.
This was our second parting, and our capacities were
now reversed. It was mine to play the Argonaut, to
speed affairs, to plan and to accomplish--if need were,
at the price of life; it was his to sit at home, to
study the calendar, and to wait. I knew, besides,
another thing that gave me joy--I knew that my friend
had succeeded in my education; that the romance of
business, if our fantastic purchase merited the name,
had at last stirred my dilettante nature; and as we
swept under cloudy Tamalpais and through the roaring
narrows of the bay, the Yankee blood sang in my veins
with suspense and exultation.
Outside the heads, as if to meet my desire, we found it
blowing fresh from the north-east. No time had been
lost. The sun was not yet up before the tug cast off
the hawser, gave us a salute of three whistles, and
turned homeward toward the coast, which now began to
gleam along its margin with the earliest rays of day.
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