THE LITTLE MOMENT OF HAPPINESS

Kendall regarded her. She was a little thing with clear eyes and a rather pretty face.

Those low-lying hills were France!

They had not lifted into view suddenly, but hadrather emerged from the east, solidifying slowly out of aslate-colored blur which to the eyes of unaccustomedvoyagers might or might not have been land. There wasno ebullition of spirits. The two thousand men andwomen aboard the vessel crowded to the rail and strainedtheir eyes toward that land in which great events awaitedthem, for the most part in utter silence. Conversationfailed. There was an impressiveness about the momentakin to the impressiveness of entering some great cathedral—therewas awe!... There, rising out of the east wasFrance!... France!

The sentiment that stirred them was more profoundthan a thrill. The day had held its thrill for them—athrill that for many of them had followed a sleeplessnight. Those who had slept had done so fully clothed,with life-jackets within instant touch of the hand. Forthe kindly ocean had been made dangerous, not by theelements, which throughout the voyage had held themselvesin restraint, but by men. It had been a morningof mists which lay upon the placid waters and glowed inresponse to the touch of the rising sun. Then, as theluminous grayness dissipated, there came into view far offto the northward, a spot which grew and approached untilit became a grim and business-like French destroyer tobe greeted with cheers of relief. It was the convoy.There was a thrill. It spelled safety—that little boatwith ready guns—but it spoke of danger as well. Theearly passengers who watched the approach of the littlevessel of war warmed with affection toward it. It wastheir guardian, come out of nothingness to protect themthrough the remaining perilous miles of ocean.

In the cabin a little party of women had remainedthrough the night, fearful of the unseen, impressed bythe perils which might hide beneath the dark waterswhich the bow of the vessel turned up into wonderfulpatterns of phosphorescence. They had grouped togetherto draw what comfort they could from companionship.Now they emerged on deck relieved, almost jubilant,until one of their number said, suddenly, “I am toldit is the last ten miles which is most dangerous.”

The destroyer ran alongside, and a sailor with twolittle flags waved a long message to the bridge; then shedropped back astern, and with her passed that thrillwhich had stirred the ship’s company.

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