leaning over a brass deck rail, retching up a vile black substance.
âIt serves you right,â she said crossly as he moaned piteously for comfort. âYou shouldnât have eaten your liquorice in the middle of the night.â
Across the heaving grey-green waves, hills and mountains could be seen, misty and insubstantial in the early morning heat haze. She had no idea how fast they were travelling and no idea if the land she could see was still California or if it was the State of Oregon or even, perhaps, the State of Washington.
She leaned against the deck rail, trying to create a map of north-west America and Canada in her mindâs eye. She couldnât think of any other large, coastal city between San Francisco and the Canadian border. In America there was Seattle, of course, and in Canada, Vancouver. She wondered if the Senator would in stop off at either city for more passengers and for the first time wondered how long the voyage to Alaska would take and where they would eventually disembark.
She didnât know much about their eventual destination, which was Dawson City, apart from the fact that it was situated high on the Yukon River, perhaps too high for sea-going vessels to be able to reach it. If that were the case, presumably they would travel by train to Dawson from wherever they disembarked. That is, if there were a train line. Not for the first time she realized how criminally ignorant she was of where she was going and what she would find when she arrived.
âIâm cold, LilliâLeo said plaintively, interrupting her thoughts. He was still dressed only in his undergarments and the sea breeze had reduced him to goose-pimples.
Reluctantly Lilli turned away from the view. The early morning, before the bulk of the world was awake, was her favourite part of the day and she would have liked to have remained where she was, staring out across the ocean, watching the distant coastline sliding by. She was certainly determined to spend as much time as possible on deck because only on deck was the Greek god likely to see her and renew his acquaintance with her.
âYouâre now going to have the pleasure of meeting Misses Bumby, Salway, Hobson and Rivere,â Lettie said darkly as, an hour later, they made their way towards the dining saloon for breakfast.
âAnd Miss Nettlesham,â Lilli reminded her as they squeezed along dark narrow gangways.
Lettie shook her untidy mane of hair. âI doubt weâll see Miss Nettlesham in the public dining-saloon. Sheâs the kind to have breakfast in her cabin.â
Lilli felt a flash of anxiety. Would the Greek god also be spending most of the voyage in his cabin? The Senator was a large boat and there were easily two or three hundred men aboard her. What if she never saw him again? Even worse, what if he wasnât going to Dawson after all but was only travelling as far as Seattle or Vancouver?
âDoes the Senator stop off anywhere for more passengers?â she asked Lettie as she followed her into the crowded dining-saloon. The noise level was so high that Lettie didnât hear her. Unable to see anything but a mass of bearded faces and nearly overcome by the smell of human sweat and bacon grease she ploughed on in Lettieâs wake, Leo clinging to her skirts; Lottie close behind her.
In a far corner of the saloon a table flanked by benches had been set aside for the use of ladies. As Lettie unceremoniously slid onto the end of one of the benches the young women sitting around the table shuffled closer together to make room for her, and for Lilli and Leo and Lottie.
âSo youâre the late arrival,â one of the young women said to Lilli in a husky voice thick with amusement. âWhen we heard you were bringing two kids with you we thought you must be in your dotage. What were you? A child-bride?â The speaker had an odd, almost monkey-like face that couldnât, in a million years, have been
âIt serves you right,â she said crossly as he moaned piteously for comfort. âYou shouldnât have eaten your liquorice in the middle of the night.â
Across the heaving grey-green waves, hills and mountains could be seen, misty and insubstantial in the early morning heat haze. She had no idea how fast they were travelling and no idea if the land she could see was still California or if it was the State of Oregon or even, perhaps, the State of Washington.
She leaned against the deck rail, trying to create a map of north-west America and Canada in her mindâs eye. She couldnât think of any other large, coastal city between San Francisco and the Canadian border. In America there was Seattle, of course, and in Canada, Vancouver. She wondered if the Senator would in stop off at either city for more passengers and for the first time wondered how long the voyage to Alaska would take and where they would eventually disembark.
She didnât know much about their eventual destination, which was Dawson City, apart from the fact that it was situated high on the Yukon River, perhaps too high for sea-going vessels to be able to reach it. If that were the case, presumably they would travel by train to Dawson from wherever they disembarked. That is, if there were a train line. Not for the first time she realized how criminally ignorant she was of where she was going and what she would find when she arrived.
âIâm cold, LilliâLeo said plaintively, interrupting her thoughts. He was still dressed only in his undergarments and the sea breeze had reduced him to goose-pimples.
Reluctantly Lilli turned away from the view. The early morning, before the bulk of the world was awake, was her favourite part of the day and she would have liked to have remained where she was, staring out across the ocean, watching the distant coastline sliding by. She was certainly determined to spend as much time as possible on deck because only on deck was the Greek god likely to see her and renew his acquaintance with her.
âYouâre now going to have the pleasure of meeting Misses Bumby, Salway, Hobson and Rivere,â Lettie said darkly as, an hour later, they made their way towards the dining saloon for breakfast.
âAnd Miss Nettlesham,â Lilli reminded her as they squeezed along dark narrow gangways.
Lettie shook her untidy mane of hair. âI doubt weâll see Miss Nettlesham in the public dining-saloon. Sheâs the kind to have breakfast in her cabin.â
Lilli felt a flash of anxiety. Would the Greek god also be spending most of the voyage in his cabin? The Senator was a large boat and there were easily two or three hundred men aboard her. What if she never saw him again? Even worse, what if he wasnât going to Dawson after all but was only travelling as far as Seattle or Vancouver?
âDoes the Senator stop off anywhere for more passengers?â she asked Lettie as she followed her into the crowded dining-saloon. The noise level was so high that Lettie didnât hear her. Unable to see anything but a mass of bearded faces and nearly overcome by the smell of human sweat and bacon grease she ploughed on in Lettieâs wake, Leo clinging to her skirts; Lottie close behind her.
In a far corner of the saloon a table flanked by benches had been set aside for the use of ladies. As Lettie unceremoniously slid onto the end of one of the benches the young women sitting around the table shuffled closer together to make room for her, and for Lilli and Leo and Lottie.
âSo youâre the late arrival,â one of the young women said to Lilli in a husky voice thick with amusement. âWhen we heard you were bringing two kids with you we thought you must be in your dotage. What were you? A child-bride?â The speaker had an odd, almost monkey-like face that couldnât, in a million years, have been
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