CHAPTER VIII
THE DELPHIAN
HIGH and gray the Delphian lay at her pier in the North River, with her big cargo-hatches open and a confusion of stevedores stowing the last of her cargo. She was quite new, and compared with the battered and dingy tramps of Eesthaven Harbor, she looked like a magnificent ocean liner. It was drizzling a little; the New York skyline was a monotone of slate color and the buildings lost cloudy tops in the mist. Mr. Bolliver went aboard with Mark and Alan, and in the captain's comfortable quarters they all talked of this and that for nearly an hour. Mark had all his papers and a note-book almost half full of advice and instructions from Mr. Bolliver, and the boys felt by this time as though Shanghai lay at their feet. Mr. Bolliver put a hand on the shoulder of each and said, "Don't disappoint any of us," and was gone.
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