The Margaretha began to seem like Mina's home. It was almost as if she had
known no other all her life. Day after day passed, and Mina grew tired of being confined
on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Once in awhile some thing happened which made
that day different from the sameness of all the others.
Mina was drying the breakfast dishes one morning as Mama washed them in a bucket
of sea water. The curtain to their compartment was open, and she saw the younger
children playing on the floor. Some were chasing each other this way and that, bumping
into grownups.
Anna appeared, her dark brown hair neatly braided. "Mina, are you ready to go
up on deck?"
"Ja, Anna, almost." Mina hurriedly dried and put away the last tin
dish. "Mama, may I go now?"
"Sure, Mina, but do not get in the sailors' way."
They went up the steps and onto the clean white plank deck which had just been scrubbed.
Many of the grownups were taking their morning stroll about the deck, including Captain Libben.
"Good morning, young ladies." He touched the bill of his cap with his hand.
"Good morning, Captain Libben." Mina thought he looked the master of the
ship.
It was a fine day with a steady breeze filling the sails without a ripple. Sailors
were at work repairing lines and rigging.
Mina's eyes swept across the wavy sea. Suddenly a fish leaped out of the water, making
an arc with its body as it dived back down.
"Anna, Anna, look there!" Mina pointed out to sea. More fish leaped out
of the water until the sea was alive with glistening black arcs.
"A school of dolphins." Captain Libben stood at the rail smoking his pipe.
"Smartest creature in the sea." And he took another puff, leaning his elbows
on the rail.
"Captain Libben, do you know all the fish in the sea?" Mina asked.
"Well, Fräulein, not every one personally." He straightened
up and chuckled at his own joke. "But the dolphin is one I would dearly like
to befriend. Yes, indeed."
Mina giggled and watched the dolphins frolic. "It would be exciting to ride
on the back of one of those dolphins."
"Mina! the things you think of. Why it makes me shudder just to imagine it,"
Anna exclaimed.
Mina enjoyed Anna's astonishment. But she really felt that tug on her to try things,
to test herself. At school in Wehrstedt she was the only girl who would dare to jump
out the window into the snow, much to the horror of little Angelica, the school's
curly haired angel. How dull to be an angel. The days were long, and one faded into another. Sometimes it was rainy and cold, and Mina and Anna could not go on deck. Then Papa would take out the books he had brought along for Mina. Anna came for lessons too.
Papa had a map of the world, and once a week he let Mina or Anna draw a ship on the
ocean where they were. Mina looked at North America and the place where they would
make their home in Texas. She tried to imagine what that place was like. Were there
big trees with bright green parrots on the branches and monkeys swinging from limb
to limb?
"I wish the wind would hurry up and blow us to Texas," Mina said. "I
am tired of being on this ship."
"But not too fast." Anna's eyes suddenly looked worried. "I
do not think I could stand another storm with all that rocking back and forth, and
thinking any minute we would be thrown into the ocean." Anna put her hands to
her breast as if to still her heart.
"Oh, Anna, do not be such a baby. Captain Libben knows his business." Still,
Mina hoped there would not be another night like that either.
Day after day Mina watched the ocean-sometimes sparkling in the sun, other times
dark and rolling under a cloudy sky. Then, she saw another ship, small on the horizon.
She ran to find Papa, and they watched as it came closer. A flag went up-the three
striped red, white, and blue flag of France. Shortly the sailors hoisted the Margaretha's
flag-a silver horse on a red background.
As the two ships came directly across from each other, Mina saw on its deck two sailors holding a large chalkboard with this written on it:
61°-15'
Lat 27°-N
"What does it mean, Papa?" Mina asked.
"Those numbers tell the exact place on the ocean where the other Captain thinks
we are, according to his navigation," Papa explained.
Immediately two of the Margaretha's sailors came on deck with a board on which
were also written large numbers. They held it up for the passing ship to see.
"Our Captain is answering," said Papa, "and his calculations are almost
the same."
It must be exciting to be a captain, thought Mina, and guide your ship across this
great markless ocean, navigating only by the sun and stars. If only girls could do
all the adventurous things that boys could. But whoever heard of a girl captain?
Or a girl soldier? It was not fair, really.
September passed, and October also. Finally in November Captain Libben said that
land would be seen any day now.
"Tonight we shall have a dance on deck," the Captain announced. "So
bring your musical instruments, and have a merry time."
"Papa, you can play your harmonica!" Mina jumped up and down.
The evening was warm with only a gentle breeze. The Margaretha plowed through
the water while on her decks the passengers danced. Mina wore her best blue dress
and let her long golden hair hang loose. A fat man played an accordion. His stomach
was so rounded he could hardly reach the keys, and the accordion bounced when he played. Papa played
his harmonica and danced at the same time. Mama looked so pretty and young, almost
like a girl herself. Though her long dress was dark, her skin and hair glowed in
the moonlight. They all danced-the young and old together while the full moon shone
down on them. Mina thought she had never been so happy.
Every morning Mina got up earlier than Papa and Mama, and went up on deck to look
for land. One morning as she searched the horizon, Mina heard the words ring out.
"Land! Land, ho," shouted a sailor from aloft the foremast.
Mina looked in the direction he was pointing. There, almost like a shadow on the
horizon, Mina saw mountains.
She turned quickly, and ran to tell Mama and Papa. They were already coming up the
ladder. Passengers erupted onto the deck, and lined the railing to see land.
Mina knew from her geography lessons that this must be the island of Santo Domingo
or Haiti. There would still be weeks to go, but land was in sight. And it would not
be long until they reached Texas.