They
have their friends."
He turned quickly to an officer awaiting commands, and paid no further
attention as Allyne moodily withdrew. The young man saw that the men
were about to launch one of the boats, and that some of the crew were
now making ready to raise the dingey to position on the davits, while
others were hastening to take their seats within it. The passengers,
getting wind of some excitement, were hurrying sternwards, and he
pushed along with them, glad to forget his sore feelings for a minute.
Carnegie, followed by Dwight, pushed past him, alert and eager, and he
saw the twins with a group of ladies, watching with all their eyes.
Even his own chum, Donelson, was chatting at ease with two East Indian
officials, absorbed and forgetful. Tom Allyne felt decidedly left out,
and it was not a pleasant sensation to one who had been accustomed to
considering himself a good fellow and desirable companion.
He leaned against the bulwark, a lonely figure in the midst of all this
lively bustle, and wished impotently that he could have let well enough
alone--and by well enough he doubtless meant both the champagne and
Mrs. Campbell--thus preserving the pleasant relations of yesterday. A
steamship soon becomes the world itself to its passengers, and the
little events of each day assume an exaggerated importance. To be at
odds with one's fellows on board means a rather desolate position for
the young person fond of society, and this one moodily wished the
miserable voyage over as he blinked in the sunshine, with his back to
the rest.
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