For Honor’s Sake Read Online Free Page A

journey.”
    Taking a deep, steadying breath, Julie pushed open the door and stepped inside, followed closely by Polly. Bolstered by the support of her new friend, Julie walked on quaking limbs to where a middleaged man with thinning hair sat behind a desk. Looking up the man smiled pleasantly as he spied Julie. “I’m Julius Goddard,” he said, extending his hand.
    Exactly one-half hour later, Julie left the office clutching an official paper bearing the number thirty. She was astounded at the ease with which she decided her future. Mr. Goddard had been all Polly said he was. With skill and patience he had extracted information concerning her background without her actually knowing what he was about. Julie had the presence of mind to say she was alone in the world after the untimely death of her aunt. Julius Goddard was tactful and understanding of the great upheaval facing most of the girls who, for reasons of their own, chose to take upthe challenge and journey west to marry complete strangers.
    “I had almost given up hope of finding my last girl,” lamented Mr. Goddard when he handed Julie the last berth available aboard the Westwind. “You are an answer to my prayer, my dear,” the congenial man beamed. “I hated to disappoint any of the young men anxiously awaiting your arrival. I am greatly relieved to have fulfilled the obligation I have undertaken. My wife, Martha, and myself felt it our Christian duty to bring marriage and a home life to young men who otherwise would fall prey to prostitutes and fortune hunters.”
    In a state bordering on numbness, Julie found herself outside on the sidewalk staring dumbly at the sheet of paper, trying to conjure up the image of the man holding the corresponding number in far off California.
    “Come along, Julie,” Polly urged, nudging the nearly paralyzed girl forward. “You’d better come home with me. My rent is paid for a few more days and we can’t take the chance of your uncle finding you and forcing you to return to him.”
    At the mention of her uncle Julie finally came alive. Producing one of the coins she had stolen from Hugo the girls hired a carriage to take them to a tiny two room apartment above a saloon that Polly had shared with her mother. After a meager meal consisting of the cheese, bread and sausage Julie had taken from home and hot tea produced by Polly, they retired early. Because the Westwind was sailing on the early morning tide two days hence, the girls would be allowed to board the next afternoon to settle themselves into their cabins and acquaint themselves with their fellow passengers and new home for the next six months.
    The only bad moment came when they left Polly’s rooms and saw two policemen at the end of the street questioning residents. Thinking her uncle had set theauthorities onto her, Julie quickly produced another coin and hailed a hack to carry them and their baggage to the docks. At precisely noon, Julie and Polly boarded the Westwind and were shown to a cabin they would share with three other women.
    Julie and Polly were nearly the only ones up the next morning at dawn when the Westwind slipped her moorings and slid from her berth into the gray mists surrounding the harbor. As the shrouded buildings and winding streets disappeared from sight Julie could not help but feel icy fingers of apprehension clutch at her heart. Was she doing the right thing, she wondered? What fate awaited her in far off California? Would she be reunited with her father? Squaring her slim shoulders and lifting her small pointed chin, Julie knew that come what may, she was prepared to meet her destiny.

2
    San Francisco—September 1851
    Julie stood on the deck of the Westwind as it pulled slowly into San Francisco Bay, maneuvering carefully around the deserted ships that littered the bay. She had been told by Captain Langford that during the year more than eight-hundred of the vessels that had been anchored in the cove were abandoned by their crews