This Month's Installment
As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about.the German fleet appeared in front of Zoppot with a few cruisers and torpedos. Proud and majestic it lay, the beams of the sun playing around it, in the shining silver-gray mirror of the sea, visible very near to the coast, however, in reality at a considerable distance. The pinnaces rushed here and there, they brought the forces to land, they took, almost full beyond their strength, the Zoppot swimming crowd on board, because one was hospitable on the ships and granted a visit to everyone. Officers, naval cadets, sailors filled the sea bridge, the paths, the casino and with their dapper uniforms and hardened sunburnt faces gave new colors to the colorful pictures.
"Where are you going in such a hurry, Pastor?"
Hans was one of the first to get up from the lunch table and, a navy blue cap on his head and a light coat over his arm, was about to leave the "Sea Star" when Nuscha's voice sounded on his ear.
"Out to the fleet. Yester-day in the casino I met an old friend who has been a naval chaplain for several years. He invited me on his ship for this afternoon, the pinnace is waiting for me at the landing."
"I'm pleased to hear it! That must be a pleasure, the whole afternoon under such direction
---82---
on one of these beautiful ships! And then a cup of coffee up on the deck, and the quick sailors serve the dishes with cake. And above one the sky and below one the water. Nothing else!"
"Yes, I am looking forward to it too!"
"Take me with, Pastor!"
Her dark, shining eyes cajoled him, her slender hands folded themselves together involuntarily, like a begging child she stood facing him.
He was caught in a difficult spot. It became hard for him to give her a negative reply, but on the other hand - he was invited, and by a brother of the office at that. What would he, what would the officers say if he appeared in the company of a lady, especially one so young, pretty, and not least discreet?
He wavered a moment, but there was something so compelling in her eyes, something so harmless in her pleading...
"Yes, you are taking me with!" she shouted triumphantly. "You don't need to say anything, I read it on your face. Oh, you are good, very good! I knew it from the first moment I met you - here in this spot, in the hall!"
She clapt her hands, she stretcht them towards him, it wasn't much different than if she had embraced him. ["]And now, won't you permit me a very short little while... yes, you will... I must change clothes."
"The pinnace will be on the beach at three o'clock."
"Oh, she won't leave without us, and it won't take me long, you will see, quick as a flash!" She was gone. But once again she turned around: Are you staying here in the same spot? Or in the garden? So that you don't run away from me!"
---83---
Commentary/Grammatical Minutiae
I couldn't immediately find "Pinassen" in my dictionary (it appears in the English-to-German section but not the German-to-English section). Some internet searching revealed it to mean pinnace, which didn't help my understanding at all. I didn't know that a pinnace is "a light sailing ship."
Until now, I'd been translating "Kurhaus" as "Kur House," not knowing quite what it meant. Somehow, I'd missed the fact that this word appears in my dictionary. It means casino.
I don't really understand why Sie is capitalized in the sentence "Oh, Sie fährt nicht ohne uns...." Normally, this would be the formal second person singular (you), but because the verb is clearly third person, I think this is referring to the boat. That's how I translated it, anyway: "Oh, she won't leave without us...."
