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C h a p t e r
7 GLOBAL MARKETS
IN ACTION
Page 156
1. How is the gain from imports distributed between consumers and domestic
producers?
Consumers gain consumer surplus from imports and domestic producers lose producer
surplus from imports.
2. How is the gain from exports distributed between consumers and domestic
producers?
Consumers lose consumer surplus from exports and domestic producers gain producer
surplus from exports.
3. Why is the net gain from international trade positive?
The net gain from international trade is positive because the gain to the winners exceeds the
losses to the losers. In the case of an imported good, all the loss of producer surplus is
transferred to consumers as consumer surplus. Consumers also gain additional consumer
surplus from the units imported. The gain of consumer surplus exceeds the loss of producer
surplus so that the net surplus increases. The situation is similar for exports: The gain of
producer surplus exceeds the loss of consumer surplus.
Page 163
1. What are the tools that a country can use to restrict international trade?
A country can use tariffs, import quotas, other import barriers such as health, safety, and
regulation barriers, and voluntary export restraints to restrict international trade. Export
subsidies, which are illegal, bring gains to domestic producers but result in underproduction
in the rest of the world.
2. Explain the effects of a tariff on domestic production, the quantity bought, and the
price.
A tariff raises the domestic price of the product. The higher price increases domestic
production and decreases the quantity bought.
3. Explain who gains and who loses from a tariff and why the losses exceed the
gains.
Domestic consumers lose consumer surplus from a tariff. Domestic producers gain producer
surplus from a tariff. The government also gains revenue from a tariff. But the gain in
producer surplus plus the gain in government revenue is less than the loss of consumer
surplus, so a tariff creates a deadweight loss.
4. Explain the effects of an import quota on domestic production, consumption, and
price.
An import quota raises the domestic price of the product. The higher price increases
domestic production and decreases domestic purchases.
5. Explain who gains and who loses from an import quota and why the losses
exceed the gains.
Domestic consumers lose consumer surplus from the import quota. Domestic producers gain
producer surplus from the import quota. The importers also gain additional profit from the
import quota. But the gain in producer surplus plus the importers’ profits is less than the loss
of consumer surplus, so an import quota creates a deadweight loss.
Page 167
1. What are the infant industry and dumping arguments for protection? Are they
correct?
The attempt to stimulate the growth of new industries is the infant-industry argument for
protection, which states that it is necessary to protect a new industry from import competition
to facilitate the growth of that industry, making it competitive in the world markets. This
argument is based on the idea that as firms mature they become more productive. However
this argument for protection only works if the benefits also spill over into other industries and
other parts of the economy. This is rarely the case, as the entrepreneurs of infant industries
and their financial supporters take this risk into account and all returns usually accrue only to
them, not to other industries. And it is more efficient to subsidize the infant industry needing
protection than it is to protect it by restricting trade.
The dumping argument for protection states that a foreign firm is selling its exports at a lower
price than its cost of production. Foreign firms trying to monopolize the international market
may use this practice. Once the competition is gone, the foreign firm will raise prices and
reap profits. This argument fails for several reasons. First, it is virtually impossible to detect
the occurrence of dumping since it is impossible to verify a firm’s production costs. The test
most commonly used is if the firm’s price when it exports is lower than its domestic price.
This test only examines the supply side of the two markets and ignores the demand side. If
the domestic market is inelastic and the export market is elastic, then it is natural for a firm to
price the domestic goods higher than the exports. Second, it is difficult to see how a global
firm could have a monopoly for the goods or services it exports. There are too many foreign
suppliers (and potential suppliers), making global competition too extensive for a monopoly to
exist in the global market. And, even if there is global monopoly it is more efficient to regulate
it than to impose trade restrictions on its products.
2. Can protection save jobs and the environment and prevent workers in developing
countries from being exploited?
There are many myths about trade restrictions. The problem mentions three of them, all false
reasons often offered as reasons to restrict international trade. These arguments are:
Trade restrictions save domestic jobs: Free international trade does cost jobs in the import-
competing markets. But this argument ignores the fact that trade also creates other jobs.
Free trade brings about a global rationalization of labour and allocates labour resources
to their highest-valued activities.
Trade restrictions penalize lax environmental standards: Not all developing countries have
lax environmental standards. Also, a clean environment is a normal good. Countries that
are relatively poor and have lax pollution standards do not care as much about the
environment because imposing clean air, water, and land standards have a high
opportunity cost that will slow economic development. The best way to encourage
environmental quality is not to restrict economic development but to encourage rapid
economic growth, which will more quickly increase citizen demand for a cleaner
environment in developing countries.
Trade restrictions prevent rich countries from exploiting poorer countries: Importing goods
made in countries with low wage levels increases the demand for labour in those
countries, increasing the number of jobs available and raising wages over time. The
more free trade that occurs with these countries, the more quickly the wages will rise and
the working conditions will increase in quality and safety.
3. What is offshore outsourcing? Who benefits from it and who loses?
Offshore outsourcing occurs when a firm in Canada buys finished goods, components, or
services from firms in other countries. Workers who have skills for jobs that have been sent
abroad lose from offshore outsourcing. Consumers who consume the goods and services
produced abroad and imported into Canada benefit.
4. What are the main reasons for imposing a tariff?
There are two main reasons for imposing tariffs on imports. First the government receives
tariff revenues from imports, which can be useful when revenues from income taxes and
sales taxes are less effective ways of gaining government revenue. Second rent seeking by
individuals in industries that would be hurt by foreign competition can influence the
government to impose tariffs.
5. Why don’t the winners from free trade win the political argument?
Trade restrictions are enacted despite the inherent inefficiency because of the political
actions of rent-seeking groups, which fear that foreign competition might have a negative
impact on their industry, firm, or jobs. The anti-trade groups are easily organized and have
much to gain from trade restrictions but the millions of consumers, who would win from free
trade are difficult to organize because each individual has only a small amount of loss when
trade restrictions are imposed.
Imports into North America equal the difference between the quantity bought and the quantity
produced, which is 10 million containers.
4. Use the information on the North American wholesale market for roses in Problem
1 to:
a. Explain who gains and who loses from free international trade in roses
compared to a situation in which North Americans buy only roses grown in the
United States.
North American rose wholesalers, who are
the consumers in the problem, gain from free
international trade. North American rose
growers lose from free international trade.
b. Draw a graph to illustrate the gains and
losses from free trade.
Figure 7.2 illustrates the market with free
trade. Consumer surplus before international
trade is equal to area A; after international
trade consumer surplus is equal to area A +
area B + area C. Producer surplus before
international trade is equal to area B + area
D; after international trade producer surplus is
equal to area D.
c. Calculate the gain from international
trade.
The gain from international trade is area C in
Figure 7.2. It is equal to ½ ($175 $125)
(10 million containers) which is $250 million.
Use the information on the North American wholesale market for roses in Problem 1 to
work Problems 5 to 10.
5. If North America puts a tariff of $25 per container on imports of roses, explain
how the North American price of roses, the quantity of roses bought, the quantity
produced in North America, and the quantity imported changed.
The North American price of roses rises from $125 per container (the price with free trade) to
$150 per container. The quantity of roses produced in the United States increases from 2
million containers (the quantity produced with free trade) to 4 million containers. The quantity
of roses consumed in the United States decreases from 12 million containers (the quantity
consumed with free trade) to 9 million containers. The quantity imported decreases from 10
million containers to 5 million containers.
6. Who gains and who loses from this tariff?
North American rose consumers lose from the tariff. North American rose producers gain
from the tariff. The government gains revenue from the tariff.
7. Draw a graph of the North American market for roses to illustrate the gains and
losses from the tariff and on the graph
identify the gains and losses, the tariff
revenue, and the deadweight loss
created.
Figure 7.3 shows the effect of the tariff. The
tariff per container is equal to the height of the
light gray arrow. Before the tariff, North
American consumer surplus is equal to area
A + area B + area C + area E + area F. After
the tariff North American consumer surplus is
equal to area A. North American consumers
lose consumer surplus equal to area B + area
C + area E + area F. Before the tariff North
American producer surplus is equal to area
G. After the tariff North American producer
surplus is equal to area G + area B. North
American producers gain producer surplus
equal to area B. The government gains tariff
revenue equal to area E. The deadweight
loss from the tariff is equal to area C + area F.
8. If North America puts an import quota on roses of 5 million containers, what
happens to the North American price of roses, the quantity of roses bought, the
quantity produced in North America, and the quantity imported?
The North American price of roses rises to $150 per container. 9 million containers of roses
are purchased in North America and 4 million containers of roses are produced in North
America. The difference, 5 million containers, is imported into North America.
9. Who gains and who loses from this quota?
North American rose growers and importers of roses gain from the quota. North American
rose wholesalers lose from the quota.
10. Draw a graph to illustrate the gains and
losses from the import quota and on the
graph identify the gains and losses, the
importers’ profit, and the deadweight loss.
Figure 7.4 shows the effect of the import quota.
The amount of the quota is equal to the length of
the gray arrow. Before the quota North American
consumer surplus is equal to area A + area B +
area C + area E + area F. After the quota, North
American consumer surplus is equal to area A.
North American consumers lose consumer
surplus equal to area B + area C + area E + area
F. Before the quota North American producer
surplus is equal to area G. After the quota North
American producer surplus is equal to area G +
area B. North American producers gain producer
surplus equal to area B. With the quota, the
importers of roses make a profit equal to area E. The deadweight loss from the import quota
is equal to area C + area F.
11. Chinese Tire Maker Rejects Charge of Defects
U.S. regulators ordered the recall of more than 450,000 faulty tires. The Chinese
producer of the tires disputed the allegations and hinted that the recall might be
an effort to hamper Chinese exports to the United States.
Source: International Herald Tribune, June 26, 2007
a. What does the news clip imply about the comparative advantage of producing
tires in the United States and China?
Because the tires were produced in China, the news clip suggests that China has the
comparative advantage in producing tires.
b. Could product quality be a valid argument against free trade? If it could, explain
how.
Product quality is not a valid argument against free trade. Quality is a valid concern for
consumers. If consumers cannot judge quality themselves, then government inspection might
be necessary. Domestic producers could easily assert that the imported good lacks some
essential quality characteristic and should be prohibited in the U.S. market. Product quality
concerns raised by domestic producers can also be used to raise worry amongst U.S.
consumers about imported goods. Domestic producers would have a never-ending incentive
to complain about quality defects of imported goods.
based ethanol. That is, doling out subsidies to put the world’s dinner into the gas
tank.
Source: Time, May 5, 2008
a. What is the effect on the world price of corn of the increased use of corn to
produce ethanol in Canada, the United States, and Europe?
The use of corn to produce ethanol increases the demand for corn, which raises the world
price of corn.
b. How does the change in the world price of corn affect the quantity of corn
produced in a poor developing country with a comparative advantage in
producing corn, the quantity it consumes, and the quantity that it either exports
or imports?
The higher world price of corn decreases the consumption of corn and increases the
production of corn in poor developing countries. Because the country has a comparative
advantage it will export corn. The higher price leads the country to increase its exports.
16. Draw a graph of the market for
corn in the poor developing
country in Problem 15(b) to show
the changes in consumer surplus,
producer surplus, and deadweight
loss.
Figure 7.5 shows the situation in the
poor country that exports corn. With
the initial lower price, the country
produces 60 million baskets, exports
20 million baskets, and consumes
40 million baskets. The consumer
surplus is equal to area A + area B
and the producer surplus is equal to
area E. After the world price of corn
rises to $8 per basket, the country
produces 80 million baskets of corn,
exports 60 baskets million bushels,
and consumes 20 million baskets.
Consumer surplus decreases to
area A and producer surplus
increases to area B + area C + area E. There is no deadweight loss.
17. Explain how South Korea’s import ban on Canadian beef affected beef
producers and consumers in South Korea. Draw a graph of the South Korean
market for beef to show how this ban changes consumer surplus and producer
surplus and creates deadweight loss.
The South Korean ban raised the price of beef in South Korea. With the higher price
production increased in South Korea, which
made South Korean producers better off, and
consumption decreased in South Korea, which
made South Korean consumers worse off.
Figure 7.6 shows the effect of South Korea’s
import ban. Prior to the ban the price of beef in
South Korea was $4 a kilogram. At this price
the quantity consumed in South Korea is 12
million kilograms of beef a year and the
quantity produced in South Korea is 2 million
kilograms of beef a year. The difference, 10
million kilograms of beef a year, is imported.
Consumer surplus in South Korea is equal to
area A + area B + area C and producer
surplus in South Korea is equal to area E.
With the import ban, the price of beef in South
Korea rises to $6 a kilogram. At this price 6
million kilograms of beef a year are consumed
in South Korea and 6 million kilograms of beef
a year are produced in South Korea. There is
no imports. Consumer surplus in South Korea
shrinks to area A and producer surplus grows to equal area B + area E. There is now a
deadweight loss, which is equal to area C.
18. Assuming that South Korea is the only
importer of Canadian beef, explain how
South Korea’s ban on beef imports affected
beef producers and consumers in Canada.
Draw a graph of the market for beef in
Canada to show how this ban changes
Canadian consumer surplus and producer
surplus from beef and creates deadweight
loss.
With the South Korean ban, Canada no longer
exports beef. (Recall the assumption that South
Korea is the only importer of Canadian beef.) In
Canada the price of beef falls to the no-trade
price. Canadian consumption increases and
Canadian production decreases so Canadian
consumers are better off and Canadian producers
are worse off.
Figure 7.7 shows the situation in the Canadian
market for beef. With trade the price of beef is $4
26. Trading Up
The cost of protecting jobs in uncompetitive sectors through tariffs is high:
Saving a job in the sugar industry costs American consumers $826,000 in higher
prices a year; saving a dairy industry job costs $685,000 per year; and saving a
job in the manufacturing of women’s handbags costs $263,000.
Source: The New York Times, June 26, 2006
a. What are the arguments for saving the jobs mentioned in this news clip? Explain
why these arguments are faulty.
The arguments for saving these jobs are (explicitly) the argument that protection saves jobs
and (implicitly) that protection allows us to compete with cheap foreign labour.
The fact these arguments are wrong can be demonstrated by comparing the cost of saving a
job to the wage paid on the job. The cost to U.S. consumers of saving a job massively
outweighs the benefit from a job to the worker, that is, the wage rate paid on the job. This
result demonstrates the conclusion that the cost of protection to the losers, U.S. consumers,
exceeds the gain to the winners, U.S. producers.
b. Is there any merit to saving these jobs?
There is merit to the workers whose jobs are saved and who might not receive any
government assistance if their jobs are not protected. There also is merit to the politicians
who can obtain a reward from lobbyists for the protection. But there is no merit to society as
a whole.
Swinging his limber arms, the little blue clad Chinaman scuffed
behind Mr. Keith and the boys to the mouth of the unfinished well.
Over this stood the temporary windlass, its huge bucket swaying to
and fro above the dizzy hollow.
Kirke noticed that this hollow was deeper than when he had seen it
last, and the mound of loose earth near it was considerably higher.
Mr. Keith and the two boys held the crank of the windlass with an
iron grip while Sing Wung stepped inside the bucket; then turning
the handle slowly backward, they lowered him deeper and deeper till
he had reached the bottom of the dim-yawning cave.
“I told Captain Bradstreet I’d like to dump Sing Wung into this well,
and I’ve done it,” said Kirke aside to Paul.
“The slant-eyed old villain doesn’t weigh much more than your little
Shot,” responded Paul, bending over the dusky abyss.
By this time the Chinaman had scrambled out of his novel elevator
and was throwing into it great spadefuls of dirt.
Mr. Keith looked at his watch. “I begin to think Yeck Wo isn’t coming.
If he lived anywhere near, I’d send to inquire.”
At that moment Sing Wung piped shrilly from beneath their feet.
“Heap muchee! Pullee! Pullee!”
Kirke sprang to the windlass, crying, “Lend a hand, Paul. You and I
together can hoist the bucket.”
“You’re very kind, boys,” said Mr. Keith gratefully, as he assisted
them in emptying the dirt. “We’ll take turns at this business for a
little while, if you’re willing. Yeck Wo may soon be here. He’s worth
two Mateos.”
For a half hour the work went on briskly, Sing Wung in the depths
below filling the bucket, and Mr. Keith and his young aids above
ground hauling it to the surface and there dumping its contents.
Then suddenly was heard a sharp, metallic sound,—the scraping of
the Chinaman’s spade against a rock.
“He’s struck hard pan,” shouted the excited lads in a breath.
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Sing Wung has struck hard pan.”
“You’re right, boys, I believe you’re right,” cried Mr. Keith, hardly less
excited than they. “Next thing we may come to water.”
“Are you going to blast now, Mr. Keith? Shall I bring you the drills
and hammer?” asked Paul eagerly.
“Yes, Paul, if you please, and a stick of giant powder and the caps
and that coil of fuse.”
After these articles had been dropped into the well, Sing Wung
began the process of drilling, using the shortest drill first, and longer
and longer ones as he pierced farther and farther into the hard pan.
He worked quickly, turning the pointed steel instrument a little with
his left hand each time he struck its blunt top with the hammer.
Having assured himself of the Chinaman’s skill, Mr. Keith soon
shouted to him, “Call me as soon as the hole is three feet deep,” and
followed by the boys walked away for a drink of cool water from the
Mexican olla on the veranda.
“It will take the man two hours at the least,” he remarked, as he
reached for the gourd, “and perhaps half a day. There is nothing yet
for Mateo to do.”
In about two hours and a half they were summoned by the sharp
voice of Sing Wung. He had finished the drilling and awaited further
instructions.
“The next thing to do, Sing Wung, is to fit one of those percussion
caps to the end of the fuse,” cried Mr. Keith, when he had reached
the surface of the well.
“Yah!” growled Sing Wung, like an imprisoned bear beneath.
“Well, now tie the fuse into the paper wrapped around the stick of
powder. Do you hear?”
“Yah!” louder than before.
“A half stick of the giant powder will be enough. Then drop the
powder, cap, and fuse into the hole, and press down with a lot of dry
earth. Do you understand?”
“No tellee! Makee holee all samee,” muttered the Chinaman sulkily.
Had he not blasted hard pan before?
“Then cut off the fuse about four feet from the hole, Sing Wung.”
They heard the Chinaman yawn noisily, as if to say, “Melican man
muchee talkee”; but Mr. Keith continued, undaunted,—
“And when everything is ready, Sing Wung, set fire to the end of the
fuse and jump into the bucket. We’ll pull you up in a hurry.”
“Allee yight!”
Sing Wung understood perfectly. He was already cutting in two a
stick of giant powder. In a short time he had buried this, as directed,
lighted the fuse, and been drawn up out of the well.
The four ran to a safe distance, and two minutes later came a loud
explosion. Sing Wung, after the dust and smoke had cleared away,
was again let down to his work. He carried in his arms a can of black
gunpowder.
“If Mateo were here to lower me, I’d go down myself to see the size
of the chamber made in the rock,” said Mr. Keith. “I don’t know
about trusting Sing Wung’s judgment in regard to the amount of
powder to use.”
“Kirke and I can let you down, Mr. Keith,” volunteered Paul promptly.
“Yes, indeed,” rejoined Kirke. “I can lift as much as Paul can.”
“I know you’re strong for your age, Kirke, but I weigh over two
hundred pounds. I’m afraid you boys might let me down in too great
a hurry.”
“No, no, Mr. Keith, we’ll promise not to drop you.”
Nevertheless, after the gentleman, against his better judgment, had
been prevailed upon to enter the bucket, he looked so overgrown in
it—like an oak-tree in a tub—that the boys could hardly manage the
windlass for laughing.
Landed at last in safety upon the bed-rock, Mr. Keith found that the
hole drilled by the Chinaman had been enlarged by the giant powder
to the size of a great kettle. Into this hole he poured about four
quarts of black gunpowder and inserted the end of a fresh fuse.
Finally he filled the rest of the cavity with fine dry earth and
“tamped” this down very firmly.
“I’ve put in a heavy charge, Sing Wung,” he said, as he turned from
the man and stepped back into the bucket. “After you’ve lighted the
fuse, you must run for your life. You mustn’t go to sleep.”
“All yightee, no sleepee!” responded the Chinaman, who,
notwithstanding his oblique eyes, could sometimes see a joke.
“The Chinese ought to understand gunpowder, considering that they
invented it,” remarked Mr. Keith, as he emerged into the upper air. “I
hope I sha’n’t have to go underground again to teach Sing Wung.”
The boys secretly echoed this hope, having found their host’s weight
a severe strain to their muscles.
That this weight had been also a severe strain upon the rope—not a
new one—had not occurred to them or to Mr. Keith, or, indeed, to
Sing Wung himself.
“It is evident that Yeck Wo is not coming,” said Mr. Keith again,
consulting his watch. “After this next explosion there will be a great
deal of hard pan to be hoisted out, and we must have Mateo to help
us. If you’ll bring him, Paul, I’ll be much obliged.”
Paul went, and was away some time. Before his return Sing Wung
had finished drilling the hole in the rock and begun to put in the
charge. Mr. Keith and Kirke had let the bucket down to the bottom of
the well and stood ready to turn the windlass at a second’s notice.
Suddenly a faint light glimmered in the darkness below, and the
Chinaman leaped into the bucket yelling,—
“Pullee! Pullee!”
He had just ignited the fuse, and as the flame crept slowly along its
tube the gunpowder interwoven in its fibres gave out a quick
succession of snapping sounds.
“Hold on, Sing Wung, we’ll pull you out in no time!” Mr. Keith
shouted back; and he and Kirke turned the crank with a will.
But, alas! at the second revolution of the windlass the rope broke,
dropping the bucket and its living freight back into the well!
Half-crazed by the accident, Sing Wung struggled to his knees with a
piercing cry, and glared at the fire which drew every moment nearer,
hissing and crackling.
“Step on it! Put it out, man! Quick, quick! are you crazy?” shrieked
Mr. Keith, leaning down into the well at the risk of losing his balance.
The unfortunate wretch was so paralyzed with fright that he seemed
powerless to obey. He could only cower upon the rocks below,
muttering and mumbling.
“Good heavens, Kirke, he’ll be blown to inch-pieces! Where are his
wits?” ejaculated Mr. Keith, rushing to the porch for the olla in the
frantic hope of quenching the spark with water. To his dismay the jar
was empty.
Kirke, left to his own devices, roared to Sing Wung, “Try to catch
hold of the rope! Hang on to it! I’ll draw you up!”
But the frenzied creature never raised his eyes from that fascinating
spark creeping, creeping toward the little mine of powder.
“Thunder and lightning, what ails him? I must save him if I can,”
thought Kirke, hastily making fast the windlass by tying down the
handle.
Never pausing to consider the risk he was taking, he grasped the
dangling rope and slid down upon it, hand over hand, toward the
burning fuse. Should he be in season to smother it? Ah, that was the
question.
When he sprang from the end of the rope to a foothold upon the
rock beside Sing Wung, the advancing flame was scarcely a finger’s
length from the buried powder. Even then help might be too late.
With his heart in his throat, the lad dashed forward and planted his
foot upon the spark. Oh, joy! it was soon extinguished! He had
saved the life of Sing Wung!
Little cared Kirke at that moment for dizzy head or blistered hands.
Even his late hatred of the suspected Chinaman was quite over-
weighed by the intense satisfaction of having been the means of his
rescue.
How Sing Wung, speedily rallying from his nervous shock, deftly
spliced the severed rope; and how he and his deliverer, one after the
other, were lifted from their gloomy quarters, will always remain to
Kirke Rowe a blurred memory, for he had hardly returned to the
sunlight before he fainted.
A dash of cold water restored him to consciousness, and he opened
his eyes to find himself extended full length upon the lawn, and Mr.
Keith and Paul bending anxiously over him. There were tears in both
pairs of eyes, and Mr. Keith was saying in broken tones,—
“God bless the noble boy!”
And what more did Kirke see? What was that white object nestling
lovingly against his breast, now lapping his cold cheek, now barking
for joy? Was it,—he could hardly believe his own senses,—yes,
surely, that was Shot, his dear lamented terrier!
“Why, Shot, you blessed good little dog, where have you been?” he
exclaimed, starting up, all alive with happiness. “Why, Shot, where
have you been?”
“He go heap far! Indian sabe!” said Sing Wung, who was squatting
on his heels at Kirke’s feet, and had been fanning him with a green
palm leaf.
“Indian? What Indian?”
“He means Mateo,” interposed Paul. “Mateo was the thief; he stole
Shot, and now he pretends he didn’t. He tries to make it out that
Shot strayed to his house, and that he tied him there to keep him
safe for his master.”
“Keep him safe! As if my bright little dog wouldn’t have known
enough to go home, if he had let him alone! I don’t believe one
word of that old Indian’s story.”
“Neither do I,” said Paul. “We all know better, and we told him so.
See how his rope has worn the hair from Shot’s neck.”
“What a shame! But there, I won’t fret. I have my little terrier back
again, alive and well,” murmured happy Kirke.
But he felt a pang of remorse, as he looked at Sing Wung, and met
that Chinaman’s eyes fixed upon him with a glance of the deepest
devotion.
“Melican boy muchee good,” said the poor fellow, brokenly. “No
makee fizzee, fizzee! Sing Wung no burnee!”
“I haven’t been so good to you as you think I have, Sing Wung,” said
honest Kirke. “But I did put out the fuse. I’m no end thankful for
that!”
Still the Chinaman lingered, struggling in vain for words to tell his
feelings.
“Heap glad doggee no killee,” said he, at last, pointing his hook-
nailed forefinger at Shot, who was at a safe distance from him.
“Heap glad Melican boy no lose doggee!”
And detesting as he did the whole canine species, how could the
simple Celestial have said anything to give stronger proof of his
gratitude to Kirke?
CHAPTER V
OFF FOR NEW YORK
The Silver Gate City party left New York the next Saturday on the
French steamer La Bretagne, bound for Havre. They took with them
Jane Leonard, a girl of eighteen, who was to have the care of
Donald.
They went on board an hour before sailing, and Molly and Pauline
immediately ran below deck to put in order the stateroom which
they were to share with Weezy. It was a cosy, outside room near the
middle of the boat, with two berths, and opposite these a cardinal
velvet sofa on which Weezy was to sleep.
“It’s lucky your brush-and-comb case has a loop to hang it up by,
Molly,” said Pauline, as they unpacked their toilet articles. “You’d
better pin it to your curtain where you can reach it from your berth
without raising your head.”
“What for?” asked Molly, a little impatiently. She sometimes thought
her friend rather too fond of dictating.
“You’ll find out what for when we get into rough water and things go
pitching about the vessel,” responded Pauline in a significant tone.
“And please, please don’t put that cologne bottle in the rack. If you
do ’twill rattle and dance and thump till it breaks—or you wish it
would.”
Molly meekly dropped the perfumery back into her hand-bag, and
hung the bag upon a large hook beside the plate-glass mirror.
“You scare me to death, Polly,” she said, with a shiver. “I almost wish
I weren’t going to sea.”
“Oh, nonsense, you’ll like the ocean when you get used to its tricks,”
returned Pauline, with the assurance of an old sailor. “How big your
eyes have grown, Miss Scared-to-death! And they are just the color
of purple heliotrope.”
“The washed-out kind you mean, I suppose, Polly?”
“No, I don’t, I mean the washed-in kind that doesn’t fade,” said
Pauline, giving Molly’s auburn hair a vicious little pull. “You know
your eyes are perfectly lovely.”
“Come, girls.” Mrs. Rowe appeared in their doorway from her
stateroom across the passage. “Let us go on deck; the air above will
be fresher.”
“So it will, mamma. Besides, we want to see the land every minute
we can,” sighed Molly.
As they mounted the stairs of the companion-way side by side, she
grasped her mother’s hand and held it fast. Now that the longed-for
hour of sailing had actually arrived, she felt an unexpected
reluctance to leaving the solid earth behind her and trusting herself
upon the heaving waters. But she said nothing more about this to
Pauline. Pauline would not have understood her dread. Neither for
that matter would fearless Kirke have understood it.
“I don’t see your father and the others, Molly,” said Mrs. Rowe rather
anxiously when she and the girls stood on the crowded deck. “I
hope they won’t lose sight of Donald.”
Pauline sprang upon a neighboring settee, where she could look
down on the heads of the people.
“Jane Leonard has him over there by the rail,” she cried presently.
“Mr. Rowe and papa are close by them.”
“Then if the child is safe, we may as well stay where we are,”
returned Mrs. Rowe, disposing herself upon the settee on which
Molly and Pauline were now leaning.
Her words were lost in the general bustle and confusion. Soon came
the cry, “All aboard!”
Visitors upon the boat rushed ashore, passengers upon the shore
rushed aboard. The last to cross the gang-plank being the captain of
the vessel.
Then shouts of good-by arose from the wharf, and answering shouts
from the steamer; the ropes were thrown off; and with hats and
handkerchiefs waving from her deck, La Bretagne slipped from her
moorings and glided out into the harbor.
“Isn’t she a beauty, Molly?” cried Pauline, tapping the back of the
settee in her enthusiasm.
“Who is a beauty?”
Molly glanced over her shoulder and saw a graceful young lady
seated upon a camp-stool and sorrowfully gazing at the shore.
“Oh, are you speaking of that young lady in mourning, Polly? She’s
pretty, but don’t you think she’s too pale?”
“I was speaking of the steamboat, you dear little innocent,”
answered Pauline, laughing. “I hadn’t noticed the other lady before.
How white she is, isn’t she? All the color she has is in her eyelids.”
“Poor thing, she must have cried herself about blind, Polly.”
At this point Captain Bradstreet came with the deck-steward to
arrange the steamer-chairs of the party. Paul and Kirke followed with
the shawls and travelling-rugs. Then those who wished to do so
extended themselves at their ease and chatted or dozed till the
dinner-bell sounded. The sea was as smooth as glass, and the only
motion of the vessel was that caused by the throbbing engines.
“I’m not a bit seasick, boys,” boasted Molly, as all went down to
dinner; “I expected to be, but I’m not.”
“I hope you’ll not be sick during the passage,” replied Paul, but his
face wore a peculiar smile. It was not the first time he had heard
people boast in this way before they were fairly out to sea.
On entering the dining-room, Molly saw three tables stretching from
one end of it to the other, and on either side of these tables were
rows of cardinal velvet chairs. Instead of being supported by four
legs, each chair swung upon a pivot in a central standard screwed to
the floor.
“Our seats are at the middle table,” said Paul. “There are your father
and mother just sitting down.”
Weezy was with them and whispered to Molly as she paused beside
her,—
“I tell you how to get into your chair, Molly. You squeeze in sideways
and then jiggle it ’round.”
“Yes, yes, Weezy, I know.”
Molly wished her little sister would not make them both so
conspicuous when the young lady in mourning sat next Pauline on
the opposite side of the table and could hear every word.
Molly’s place was between Kirke and Weezy and over against Captain
Bradstreet.
“You’re Number Fifteen, Molly,” said Kirke, reading the black letters
on his ivory napkin-ring. “You’re Number Fifteen and I’m Number
Fourteen.”
“And I’m Number Sixteen,” added Weezy, after squinting hard at her
own ring.
“Yes, they treat us as if we were convicts in a state’s prison,” Molly
turned to Kirke with a shrug. “You know they make convicts drop
their own names and answer to numbers.”
“I should have made a good convict, if I had worn those overalls
and”—
But here Kirke was interrupted by a waiter bringing him a plate of
soup.
They were a long time at dinner, which consisted of several courses
and ended with harlequin ice-cream,—red, green, and white.
Donald’s nurse had given her charge an early supper in the children’s
cabin, and when the party returned to the deck he was already in
bed.
“My little brother can’t stay awake after dark ’cause it makes him
cross,” Weezy frankly explained to the pale young lady in black with
whom she had become friendly during dinner.
“Can’t he? That’s unfortunate,” replied the young lady, smiling.
“Oh, I don’t care. Not so very cross.”
Weezy was eying keenly a bag of black alligator skin dangling from
her companion’s belt. It was rather larger than an ordinary reticule,
and furnished with a steel clasp and chain. The young lady played
absently with the chain while talking.
“‘Oh! I’m ever so sorry,’ said Weezy”
Page 87
“She pets her pretty bag like a kitten. I wonder what’s in it?” thought
Weezy, wishing it would not be rude to inquire. She suspected that it
contained something very, very precious.
“Didn’t anybody come with you, lady?” she questioned shyly, being
exceedingly desirous to know. “Are you all sole alone?”
“Yes, dear; all sole alone.” The speaker’s voice trembled. “My father
had intended to cross the ocean with me; but he was taken
suddenly ill last month, and—he has died.”
“Oh, I’m ever so sorry,” replied Weezy, with tears in her eyes,
thinking how she should feel if it were her own papa. “Haven’t you
any mamma?”
The young lady shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
Weezy’s hand stole quietly into that of her new friend.
“That’s dreadful—not to have any papa and mamma! Don’t you want
to see my mamma? Please come over to the other side of the boat,
and I’ll induce you to her.”
“Thank you, darling; but I’d rather not go.”
“My mamma’s very nice,” pleaded Weezy. “Her name is Mrs. Rowe.
My name is Louise Rowe, only ’most all the time it’s Weezy.”
“I’m sure your mother must be very nice, Miss Louise. She has a
lovely expression; yet, all the same, I can’t intrude upon her.”
“I wish you could,” said Weezy, wondering what was meant by
“intrude.” “If you could, you wouldn’t be lonesome, ’cause we have
ten peoples—only Donald is abed.”
“With ten in your party, Miss Louise, I’m sure you have enough
peoples without me,” responded the young lady in crape,
unconsciously cheered by the child’s artless sympathy. “Look, your
mamma is beckoning you.”
Mrs. Rowe had feared lest her sociable little daughter might annoy
the stranger; but after hearing Weezy’s story about her, changed her
mind.
“The poor girl looks very sad and lonely,” she said, watching the
sweet, sensitive face, which she had observed at dinner. “I’ll go back
with you, Weezy, and speak to her.”
And having crossed the deck, she gracefully introduced herself to the
desolate young lady in mourning, who in return gave her own name
as Miss Evans.
“Cannot I prevail upon you, Miss Evans, to make my little daughter
and the rest of us happy, by joining us?” said Mrs. Rowe cordially.
“We have a vacant seat to offer you.”
There was no resisting the rare charm of the lady’s manner, and the
desolate stranger gladly accepted the invitation, though on being
presented to the other members of the party she betrayed great
shyness.
“Evidently unaccustomed to society,” thought Mrs. Rowe; “yet so
cultivated and refined! I can’t quite understand it.”
After they had become better acquainted, Miss Evans told her that
her father and herself had always lived together a retired life, seeing
more of books than of people. He was a scientist, and had devoted
many years to preparing a learned work on biology.
“As soon as his book was finished, papa meant to take a vacation
with me, Mrs. Rowe,” she said tremulously. “We were to visit my
uncle in Paris. But the very day after our passage on the steamer
had been engaged, papa had a fatal stroke of paralysis. And so,”
added Miss Evans, with touching pathos, “and so I came alone.”
“Alone in one sense, my dear Miss Evans; yes, sadly alone,” replied
Mrs. Rowe with feeling. “But please consider yourself one of our
large party. Please look upon us all as your friends.”
She pressed the young mourner’s hand warmly as she spoke, and
resolved to do all in her power to enliven her voyage.
Molly and Pauline bestowed stealthy glances upon the diffident
newcomer shrouded in black in Donald’s chair. In the splendor of the
moonlight her pale face assumed an unearthly radiance, and Kirke
remarked confidentially to Paul that she was “a regular stunner.”
“Solemn as a tombstone, though,” responded Paul. “And see her
hang on to that bag at her belt! Anybody’d think it was a life-
preserver.”
“I suppose it was once, when the skin was on the alligator’s back,”
laughed Kirke. “Hark, Paul, your father is beginning a story!”
Captain Bradstreet’s stories were always worth hearing, and the
evening being warm and still, the little company was beguiled into
remaining up until a late hour to listen to some of his thrilling
experiences at sea.
“What delightful people these are!” thought the lonely Miss Evans.
“It is such a solace to be with them. And I had not expected to
speak with a soul on board.”
CHAPTER VII
TEN AND ONE
The next day the weather continued fine. The ship passed schools of
porpoises sporting in the sun and splashing the water like swimming
children at play.
Captain Bradstreet told Weezy that these porpoises were sometimes
called fish-hogs. They not only drive shoals of herrings and salmon
and mackerel before them, but they sometimes dive to the bottom
of the sea and root for eels and sea-worms, as pigs on land root for
acorns buried under leaves.
The second morning Paul descried a sporting whale to leeward, and
an hour later an ocean steamer. When the vessels were near each
other, La Bretagne ran up several small flags.
“Those flags ask, ‘Have you seen any icebergs?’” said Captain
Bradstreet.
And when the other vessel signalled by flags that the passage was
clear, he seemed greatly pleased.
“I always dread to meet icebergs in a fog,” he remarked.
“But there isn’t a speck of fog to-day, Captain Bradstreet,” put in
Weezy.
“No, not yet, but we shall run into it off the Banks, little maiden.”
“What banks, Captain Bradstreet?” asked Weezy, taking a peep
through his spy-glass, which rested across the top of Molly’s chair. “I
don’t see anything around here but just water.”
“I mean the banks of Newfoundland, an island; but you needn’t look
for them, you can’t see them.”
“I can see something though,—something white. Look, look, Captain
Bradstreet! Don’t you believe it’s going to begin to fog?”
“Already? Is that so?” The captain raised the glass and peered
through it himself. “Yes, you’re right, Bright-Eyes. The fog is ‘going
to begin’ to bear down upon us.”
And in a few moments the white fog had shrouded the vessel from
stem to stern. Then came at frequent intervals the dreary sound of
the fog-horn.
“What a hoarse old thing!” exclaimed Weezy, stopping her ears in
disgust. “It brays just like Kirke’s burro, only awful worse.”
“As if it had a long sore throat,” laughed Molly, buttoning her sister’s
cape at the neck.
“They’re manning all the lookouts,” remarked the wise Pauline.
“They’re doing what, Pauline? And what are they doing it to?” asked
Molly playfully. “Won’t you please speak English?”
“Oh, you dear, stupid old land-sparrow! Don’t you see those wooden
cages high above the forecastle?”
“I don’t know what the forecastle is; but do you mean those little
platforms with fences round them?”
“Yes, those are the lookouts. There are five on this steamer,—I’ve
counted,—and the mate has sent a sailor to each one to watch and
sing out if there’s danger of our running into anything.”
“Ugh! I wouldn’t be in their places for a hundred dollars,” said Molly.
“But Kirke would like it, you may depend. I never heard of such a
boy! To think of the way he went down into that well to save Sing
Wung!”
“Kirke is a noble little fellow,” returned Captain Bradstreet heartily, to
Molly’s intense satisfaction. “And here he is now, coming aft, and
Paul is behind him.”