Date: 1896
Stars scintillated in the purple sky and flashed in the mirror of the sea, and the yacht, ploughing through this begemmed plain, left behind a broad trail of white foam.  Not a breath of wind stirred, and no sound could be heard but the creaking of the boat as she swung and swayed, and the steady throb of the engines as every stroke of the propellers urged her onward.  Bertha was seated by Aunt Chrissy, with a guitar, and every now and then she sang idle snatches of song to the old lady.