Bob Strong's Holiday; or, Adrift in the Channel

by John Conroy Hutcheson________________________________________________________________Bob Strong and his sister Nellie are the children of a busybarrister, too busy to take them on holiday, and they are sentby train down to Portsmouth to spend the summer holidays withtheir aunt. The dog Rover travels in the guard's van, and inthe same compartment of the train there is an elderly gentlemanwho turns out to be a retired sea-captain. 

The train is moving out of Guildford when a grubby boy's faceappears at the window. They let the boy in, and the Captaindecides to pay the fare for the boy, who is a runaway from adreadfully cruel stepfather. They all spend the holidaytogether, doing various things with boats, fish, seaweed, andvisiting various interesting places, some of which they find tobe a con! They travel to the Isle of Wight, just a few milesacross the Solent, and even visit Seaview where I, the reviewer, was brought up. Many of the interesting things they did werewhat we as boys fifty years later also did. 

They get involved in a couple of disasters, including the wreckof a brand-new excursion steamer. As in my day, the engines ofthese ships were most interesting, being triple expansionhorizontal steam engines driving paddle-wheels, and, like Bob, Iused to spend the journeys to and from the Isle of Wighthovering at the engine-room door, admiring these amazinglybeautiful artefacts. 

But the other disaster I will not tell you about save only tosay that Alderney and the Casquets Rock, over fifty miles fromthe Isle of Wight, are mentioned, and these too are places withwhich I am very familiar. 

You may wonder what happened to the runaway boy, Dick, and hereagain a very suitable arrangement was made for him, for he wasaccepted for training as a boy seaman. N. H. _______________________________________________________________

BOB STRONG'S HOLIDAYS; OR, ADRIFT IN THE CHANNEL

BY JOHN CONROY HUTCHESON

CHAPTER ONE. 

DOWN THE LINE. 

"Bob!"

The noise of the train, however, drowned Nellie's voice; besides whichMaster Bob was further prevented from hearing this appeal to him byreason of his head and shoulders being at that precise instant projectedout of the window of the railway-carriage, in utter defiance of theCompany's bye-laws to the contrary and of his sister's solicitousentreaties to the same effect--poor Nellie, fearing, in her feminineanxiety, that the door would fly open unexpectedly, from the pressure ofBob's person, and precipitate her brother as suddenly out on the line. 

"Bob!" she therefore repeated on finding her first summons disregarded, speaking in a louder key and giving a tug to his jacket the better toattract his attention--"I say, Bob!"

"Hullo! What's the row?" shouted back the delinquent, hearing her atlast, and wriggling himself in from the window like a snail withdrawingitself into its shell, turning round the while his face, slightlyflushed with the exertion, to hers--"Anything wrong, eh?"

Little Miss Nellie had not expected her timid and tentativeconversational advances to be taken up in this downright fashion. Really she was only anxious for some one to sympathise with her and talkabout the various objects of interest which came across her notice asthey went along; so, Bob's abrupt address, coupled with his gruff toneof voice, fell on her enthusiasm like a wet blanket!

"Nothing's the matter, " she replied timidly. "I only wanted to say hownice it is travelling like this. "

"You don't mean to say you only called me in to tell me that?" said Bob, almost angrily. "I do think girls are the greatest geese in the world!"

With this dogmatic assertion, Master Bob shoved himself head andshoulders out of the window again, utterly ignoring poor Nellie'sexistence, much to her chagrin and dismay. 

He was very rude, it must be confessed; but, some allowance should bemade for him, all things considered. 

In the first place, he was a boy just fresh from the rougherassociations of school life; and, secondly, his inquiring mind wasintently occupied in endeavouring to solve a series of mathematicalproblems that set all Euclid's laws at defiance, as the train whizzed onits way with a `piff-paff! pant-pant!' of the great Juggernaut engine, the carriages rattling and jolting as they were dragged along at thetail of the mighty steam demon, swaying to and fro with a rhythmicalmovement of the wheels, in measured cadence of spondees and dactyls, asif singing to themselves the song of "the Iron Road. "

Strange to say, this was a song of which, Bob noticed, the involuntarymusicians never completed the second bar. 

They re-commenced all over again from the beginning, when they reachedsome particularly crucial point, where the `click' or the `clack' of theever-echoing `click-clacking' chorus proved too much for theiroverworked axles!

Bob, though, was not thinking of this music of the rail, or paying anyattention to it, albeit it was distinct and plain to him; as, indeed, itis to all with ears attuned in harmony with this mystery of motion, andwho choose to listen to it, just as there are `sermons in stones, ' forthose who care to read them!

No, all his energies were bent on finding out how it was that thestraight hedgerows and square fields became round, while curvingoutlines grow straight in a moment, as if ruled with a measure, at theinstant of their speeding by them; and, it occurred to him, or probablywould have done so if he had given himself time for reflection, that thequestion of squaring the circle, which has perplexed the philosophers ofall ages, was not so very difficult of solution after all--looking atthe matter out of the window of a railway-carriage, that is!

Yes, so it really appeared; for, everything seemed `at sixes andsevens, ' the landscape having its middle distances and foregroundirretrievably mixed up and its perspective gone mad, the country throughwhich they passed resembling in this respect the land of topsy-turvey-dom!

Bob's surprise, and wonder and delight, at all he saw became presentlytoo great for him to remain silent any longer or to keep his thoughts tohimself; so, affably forgetting his previous `snub' to his sister when_she_ had wished to express her feelings, he jerked in his head assuddenly as he had popped it out the moment before. 

"I say, Nell, isn't it jolly?" he exclaimed in eager accents. "Justlook out with me and see how funny everything seems!"

"Why, that was what I wanted to speak of a little while ago, only youwouldn't listen to me, " replied Nellie, more good-humouredly than Bobwould have answered under the circumstances. "It is nice, though, Imust say!"

"`Nice' indeed!" replied he indignantly. "It is just like a girl to saythat. I call it `jolly, ' nothing more nor less. There's no other wordto express what a fellow feels; and I do wonder, Nell, at your puttingit so tamely!"

The girl laughed out merrily at this; and her smiling face, wreathed indimples, expressed as much animation as her brother could have wished. 

"Do forgive me, Bob, " she cried. "You are quite right. It is `jolly, 'the fields flying by, the trees all jumping up when you least expectthem, the hills coming close, and--everything! I have noticed them all;for, I've been looking out, too, Master Observer, and have eyes likeyou, old chappie!"

"Ah, but you haven't seen all that I have, " said Bob, mollified byNellie's sympathetic accord. "Look at those little woolly lambs, there, frisking about, with their sedate old mothers standing by, watching thetrain with wondering eyes--"

"Yes, I see, I see, " said she, interrupting him. "What great big eyesthey have, to be sure! I declare, too, I can hear them `baa' above allthe noise of the railway!"

Just at that moment, the engine gave a shriek of its steam-whistle, which startled the sheep and lambkins, sending them scuttling over tothe other end of the field, in company with a number of skittish heifersand young colts, which kicked up their heels in such a funny way thatBob and Nellie both burst out laughing together in concert, in one burstas it were. 

"Hullo, Nellie, look!" presently exclaimed Bob, who was the first torecover himself. "All the horses have not run away. There is one oldfellow there, close to the line, who hasn't budged an inch. "

"Perhaps he's the veteran of the field?" said Miss Nellie, ratherpoetically. "He's an old war-horse, maybe, who has heard too manyclanging trumpet-calls and guns fired to be upset by the mere noise ofan engine, which is only a bugbear to the ignorant. "

"Bosh!" cried Bob, who did not believe much in sentiment, `flummery' hetermed it. "Much more likely he's an old cart-horse, and is as wellaccustomed to the row of the railroad as he is to the plough, and that'sthe reason he took no notice of us as we dashed by. See, he's only alittle dot in the distance now. "

They were running along at such a rate that every object which in turnpresented itself, first ahead of the train, then alongside and thenbehind, became speedily but `a dot in the distance, ' to use Bob's wordsover again; the snugly secluded seats of the county gentry, thescattered villages and sparse red-roofed farmhouses, with their outpostsof hayricks and herds of cattle and other stock, that one momentappeared and the next disappeared from view behind masses of foliage, all dancing a wild Sir Roger de Coverley sort of country dance, `downthe valleys and over the hills, ' until poor Nellie's eyes became quitedazed in watching them. 

"Come over to the other window, Bob, " she cried at length, turning roundand getting up from her seat, suiting the action to the words, or atleast trying to do so. "Let us cross over, Bob. "

But, here a difficulty arose. 

An old gentleman, who was the only other occupant of the carriagebesides themselves, had dropped asleep over the newspaper which he hadbeen reading, letting this slide down on his knees while he stretchedout his legs right across the compartment, thus preventing Nellie fromcarrying out her intention. 

"I can't get by, " she whispered to Bob, who had also turned round fromhis window, and now giggled, grasping the situation. "I can't get by!"

"What, what?" ejaculated the old gentleman, suddenly waking up andclutching hold of his paper, as if afraid that some one was going totake it from him. "What, what did you say?"

Strangely enough, although Bob and his sister had been talking quiteloudly before, nothing that they had said had roused their fellow-passenger until now, when, probably, Nellie's hushed voice led to thisvery undesirable result--just in the same way as a miller is said tosleep soundly amid all the clatter of the grinding wheels of his mill, his repose being only disturbed when the motion of the machinery stops. Poor Nellie hardly knew what to say now on the old gentleman, all atonce, sitting bolt upright and addressing her so unexpectedly. 

"I was only speaking to my brother, " she managed to stammer out, after alittle hesitating pause; "I am sorry to have awakened you, sir. "

"Awakened me, eh?" snorted the old gentleman in a snappish tone. "Pooh, pooh, nonsense, girl! I wasn't a bit asleep. Heard every word yousaid. What was it you said, eh--what, what?"

Bob and Nellie exchanged a smile at this; for, the old gentleman had notmerely nodded previously to their having determined to change windows, but his gold-rimmed spectacles had almost tumbled from his nose, thelatter organ also having given audible vent to certain stentorian soundsuncommonly like snoring!

The old gentleman, however, did not appear conscious of all thisevidence against his fancied wakefulness; and he blinked out so queerlyfrom a pair of little black beady eyes, half-hidden under a fringe ofbushy white eyebrows, which made them look all the blacker fromcontrast, as he glared over his spectacles at the brother and sister, that Bob's giggle expanded into a fit of irrepressible merriment, although he endeavoured vainly to conceal his want of manners by buryinghis face in his pocket-handkerchief. 

Bob some time afterwards told Nellie in confidence that, just then, theold gentleman so comically resembled `Blinkie, ' a dissipated old tamejackdaw they had at home, in the way he cocked his head on one side, with his ruffled hair and all, that he couldn't have helped laughing, ifhe had died for it!

"Well?" said the old gentleman inquiringly, after a bit, tiredapparently of waiting for an answer to his original question as to whatNellie had said as he woke up, gazing still fixedly at her, his beadyblack eyes twinkling and his bushy eyebrows bristling up like thewhiskers of a cat when it is angry. "What did he say, eh?"

"He--he was only speaking to me, sir, " stammered poor Nellie, nowtrembling with fright. "He was only speaking to me, that's all. "

"What, what?" jerked out her unappeased questioner. "Who is `he'?"

"My brother--Bob, sir, " said she, still trembling and nervous; "mybrother here, sir. "

"Bob what?"

"Strong, sir, " replied Nellie, a little less timidly, now that she sawthe old gentleman was not going to eat her up quite--"Robert DugaldStrong, sir. "

"Humph!" he grunted out in reply to this. "He may be Strong by name andhe looks strong by nature; but, really, he seems unusually weak inmind--he's a lunatic, I should think!"

But, there was a quaint, good-humoured expression on his face thatsomewhat belied his abrupt manner and harsh, peremptory voice, whichsounded like that of a bullying old barrister, cross-examining ahesitating witness in court; so Nellie, therefore, gathered increasedconfidence as she caught his glance, to proceed with her explanationanent Master Bob. 

"You're mistaken, sir, --he isn't silly, " she said. "He only wanted meto cross over to the other side of the carriage; and I told him Icouldn't pass by you, sir. That was all, sir. "

"Oh, indeed! Then I'm sure I beg your pardon, " said the old gentlemanvery politely, drawing in his legs, so as to leave the road clear. "Idon't see, though, what the young rascal has got to laugh at in thatway, like a regular young yahoo. "

"Please, sir, pray excuse him, " pleaded Nellie on behalf of Bob. "It isonly a way he has got. He cannot help laughing for the life of him whenthe fit is on. He really does not mean to be rude, sir, I assure you. "

"Doesn't he?" repeated the old gentleman, smiling in a knowing fashionas if he knew all about it. "Then, he's very unlike all the boys I havecome across in my time; and they've been a goodish few, missy! But, there, get along with you both, and look out of the window to yourheart's content. Take care, though, that neither you nor that youngjackanapes don't manage to tumble out on the line, for I can't pick youup from here!"

Bob and Nellie took advantage at once of the permission granted them;but, soon, becoming tired of the monotonous sameness of the ever-whirling landscape, turned back within the railway-carriage, and, sitting down like ordinary and regular travellers accustomed by thistime to all the sights and scenes of the road, the pair were presentlyengaged in earnest and confidential conversation with the now extremelyaffable, old gentleman. 

"Ah!" he exclaimed, breaking the ice on seeing the pair at last quiet. "So, your name is Strong, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " answered Bob, acting as spokesman. "Father is a barrister, and he cannot get away from London yet for his holiday like us; and, ofcourse, sir, my mother couldn't leave him alone, you know--"

"No, of course not, " agreed the old gentleman, "of course not. "

"So, then, " continued Bob, "they sent us on first; and we're going tothe seaside, where we've never been before! Isn't it jolly?"

"Very jolly, " responded the old gentleman smiling. "I wish I were asyoung as you are to enjoy it all over again, in spite of my having seenenough of the sea in my time. "

"Are you a sailor, sir?" asked Nellie, chiming in. "I mean a sailorofficer, sir, you know?"

"Yes, an old one, put on the shelf after fighting the battles of mycountry for many a long year!" said the old gentleman, with a deep sighthat almost made the carriage shake. He then extracted a silver snuff-box from his waistcoat-pocket; and taking a pinch, which seemed torelieve his feelings, added, as if to change the subject, "But, my youngfriends, you haven't told me where you are going. "

"Why, to Portsmouth, to be sure, sir, " said Bob promptly. "I thoughtyou knew it; and--"

"And we are to stop at aunt Polly's till papa and mamma come down, "again interposed Miss Nellie, who had lost all her timidity and wantedto have her share in the talk. "Dear aunt Polly, how glad I shall be tosee her again!"

"Oh, indeed! But, who is aunt Polly?"

Really, he was a most inquisitive old gentleman!

The children, however, did not seem to notice this; and went on to tellhow their aunt Polly was the dearest aunt they believed any one everhad, and the nicest. 

They informed the old gentleman, likewise, that this loved aunt oftheirs came up to town every year regularly at Christmas-time to paythem a visit; although they, on their part, had never been able to godown to see her until now, something or other having always happened toprevent their proceeding to the sea. 

"Well, better late than never, " said their fellow-traveller, whom Boband Nellie began to look upon now quite as an old acquaintance--"I've nodoubt you'll enjoy yourselves. But, my dears, you haven't mentionedyour aunt's name--her surname, I mean. Perhaps I might know her, forI'm an old resident of Portsmouth, or rather Southsea, which is justoutside the lines and where all the best people live now. "

"Mrs Gilmour, sir, " replied Nellie. "That's aunt Polly's name. "

"What, Polly Gilmour, the widow of my old shipmate Ted Gilmour, whocommanded the _Bucephalus_ on the West Coast for two commissions anddied of fever in the Bight of Benin? Bless my soul, who'd have thoughtit!"

"Yes, sir, Uncle Gilmour was in the Navy, " put in Bob as if tocorroborate the surmise of the old gentleman. "He was Captain Gilmour, sir. "

His questioner, though, appeared for the moment lost in thought, hismind evidently occupied with a flood of old memories connected with hislost friend and their life afloat together. 

"Dear, dear, who'd have thought it!" he repeated, as if speaking tohimself. Then, presently, recovering his composure with an effort, aided by another pinch of snuff, he said aloud--"And so, you twochildren are poor Ted Gilmour's niece and nephew, eh?"

"Yes, sir, " replied Bob and Nellie in one breath, answering thequestion. "You just ask auntie and see what she says, sir. "

"I'm very glad to hear it, " said the old gentleman, hastily pullingNellie towards him and giving her a kiss, much to her astonishment, theaction was so sudden; while he next proceeded to shake Bob by the handuntil his arm ached. "I am very glad, very glad indeed to meet you;and, if it be any satisfaction to know, I may tell you that I go roundto your aunt Polly's every evening to have a game of cribbage, summerand winter alike, except those three weeks when she goes to London tostop with your father, whose name, of course, I recollect now, althoughI did not think of that when you told it me awhile ago--"

"Then, you're Captain Dresser?" interrupted Bob at this point, anxiousto show that he had heard the old gentleman's name before and recognisedit. "I'm sure you're Captain Dresser, sir. "

"Yes, I'm Captain Dresser, " replied that individual, smiling all overhis face, his queer little beady black eyes twinkling more than everwith excitement, and his bushy eyebrows moving up and down. "Yes, I'mCaptain Dresser--Jack Dresser, as your uncle and all my old shipmates inthe service used to call me, much at _your_ service, ha, ha, ha!"

Bob and Nellie could not help joining in with the old gentleman's laughat his little joke, the Captain's "Ha, ha, ha!" was so cheery andcatching. 

It was a regular jolly "Ha, ha, ha!"

The trio, thereupon, got very confidential together, Bob telling howthey had got their dog Rover with them, only he was travelling in theguard's van, being too big to be put in the box under the carriage, ashe would have been if he'd been a little dog instead of a fine big blackretriever, which he, Bob, was very glad to say he was, and "not a merelady's pet like a pug or a toy terrier, " while Nellie, in her turn, intimated her intention of making a collection of shells and seaweedwhen she got to the shore, which, she said, she longed to reach so as to`see the sea, ' that being the dearest wish of her heart. 

The Captain, on his part, reciprocated these friendly advances in theheartiest way, expressing the strongest desire to make the acquaintanceof Rover, as well as to take his fellow-travellers out in his yacht fora sail whenever the weather was fine enough; that is, if they promisedto behave themselves properly, and always `did what they were told andobeyed orders, ' Captain Dresser saying, with an expressive wink thatmade him look more jackdaw-like than ever, that he invariably insisted, even in the presence of their "dear aunt Polly, " on being "captain ofhis own ship. "

They were in the midst of all these mutual confidences, the Captainchattering away like an old hen clucking round a pair of new-foundchicks, and Bob and Nellie full of glee and exuberant anticipations ofall the coming fun they were going to have afloat and ashore; when, suddenly, the light of the further window of the railway-carriage, opposite that near to which the trio were grouped in close confab, wasobscured by a dark body pressing against it from without, as if some onewas trying to gain admittance. 

"Hallo!" cried the Captain. "What's that--who's there?"

But, before the old gentleman could rise from his seat, or

Bob and Nellie do anything save gape with astonishment, the window-sashwas violently forced down; and, without a `by your leave' or any word ofwarning, a strange uncouth figure, so it seemed to their startled gaze, came squeezing through the opening and fell on the floor of the carriageat their feet in a clumsy sprawl. 

CHAPTER TWO. 

A RUNAWAY. 

Nellie half sprang from her seat at this unexpected addition to theirlittle party, uttering a scream of terror the while, as genuine as itwas shrill and ear-piercing. 

She was a slight, delicate-looking girl of twelve, with a shower ofcurls of the colour of light gold that rippled over her forehead andshoulders and down her back, reaching well-nigh to her waist; and itseemed almost impossible that such a fairy-like little creature couldhave uttered such a volume of sound. 

However, she did it; and then, satisfied apparently with having exertedherself so far for the protection of all, Miss Nellie crouched down inthe corner of the carriage behind Bob, who, two years her elder and astoutly-built boy for his age, with short-cropped hair of a tawniertinge, stood up sturdily in front of his trembling little sister todefend her, if need be, as manfully as he could. 

But, the gallant old Captain was first in the field, jumping forwardwith an agility of which neither Bob nor Nellie thought him capable;and, in an instant, he had clutched hold of the intruder. 

"Who the dickens are you?" he cried, shaking him as a terrier would arat. "What the dickens do you want here, confound you!"

"Please don't, ma-aster, " gasped out a half-suffocated voice. "I bea'most shook to pieces!"

"Humph! `when taken to be well shaken, ' that's what doctors advise, eh?"said the Captain, somewhat sternly, although with a sly chuckle at hiswitty illustration of the phrase, as, with a strong muscular effort, heraised up the struggling figure he had clutched hold of and proceeded toinspect his capture--a lanky woebegone lad, whose rugged garments andgeneral appearance was by no means improved by the rough handling he hadreceived in the grip of the old sailor, who, as he now put him on hisfeet and released him, repeated his original imperative inquiry, "Whothe dickens are you and what do you want here?"

"Please, sir, I ain't a-doing nothink, " snivelled the lad, screwing hisknuckles into his eyes, as if preparing to cry, each word beingsandwiched between a sob and a sniff. "I--ain't--a-doing--nothink!"

"Doing nothing?" echoed the Captain indignantly, overcome apparently bythe enormity of the culprit's offence. "Why, you young scoundrel, hereyou have been and gone and committed a burglary, breaking into arailway-carriage like this, besides nearly frightening the occupants todeath; and, you call that nothing! Do you know, if I were on the Bench, I could sentence you to penal servitude?"

"Oh, pray don't, Captain Dresser, please!" cried out Bob and Nellietogether, impressed with the terrible powers of the law as thuspresented to their view and the extent of the Captain's authority. "Hereally did not mean any harm, poor fellow, I am sure he didn't!"

"Then what did he do it for?" asked the old gentleman snappishly, thoughboth could see, from the merry twinkle in his eyes, that he was not insuch a bad temper as he pretended to be. "What did he do it for?That's what I'd like to know!"

But, even the stranger lad, who had so unceremoniously intruded into thecarriage, seemed to become aware as he confronted him that the Captain's`bark was worse than his bite'; for, dropping his snivel and looking hisquestioner manfully in the face, he at once went on to tell who he wasand explain the reasons for his unexpected appearance on the scene--hisearnest accents and honest outspokenness testifying to the truth of hisstatement in the opinion, not only of Bob and Nellie, but of the whilomgrumpy old Captain as well. 

The lad said that his name was Dick Allsop and that he belonged toGuildford, the last station the train had passed, and the only one atwhich it had stopped since leaving Waterloo. His father had died someyears before, but his mother had lately got married again to a regularbrute of a man, who behaved very badly to her and treated Dick, heaverred, so cruelly, that he could not stand it any longer. That verymorning, Dick stated; he had beaten him so unmercifully that he hadsuddenly determined to run away to sea; and this was the reason why hewanted to get to Portsmouth. 

"But, you might have entered the carriage like a Christian!" interposedthe Captain at this point of the lad's story. "The train stopped longenough at Guildford for you to get in through the doorway, like anyordinary passenger, surely?"

"No, sir, I couldn't, " answered the other. "I couldn't a-done it. "

"But why not?"

"Because, sir, " snivelled the lad, "I didn't have no money, sir. "

"Humph! you had no money, eh?"

"No, sir; nothing but thrippence-a'penny, which mother gave me afore Istarted, when she wished me good-bye. She was sorry as how she couldgive me nothing more; and so I couldn't pay the fare, and had noticket. "

"So, my joker, you got on the train without one at all!" said theCaptain, interrupting him. "Do you know that was really cheating therailway company?"

"I knows it, sir, " replied Dick Allsop, who had better now be called byhis own proper name, looking down as if ashamed of what he had done. "Iknows it's wrong; but, sir, I couldn't help it, as there was no otherway I seed of getting to Porchmouth. "

"But, why didn't you jump into the carriage like a Christian, as I saidjust now?" observed the Captain. "Eh?"

Dick seemed amused by this question. 

"Does yer think, sir, the porters would ha' let me if they'd seed me a-trying it on?" said he, with a radiant grin that lit up his face, quitechanging its expression. "Not if they, knowed it!"

"Perhaps not, " agreed the Captain, nonplussed by the lad's logic andknowledge of human nature. "No, I don't think they would. "

"No, sir; that they wouldn't, " exclaimed the runaway triumphantly, as ifhe knew all about that matter at any rate. "So, sir, I waits down bythe side o' the line, where I lays hid, sir, without nobody a-seeing me;and then, jist as the train was started and quite clear o' the station, a-going into the tunnel as ain't fur off, as yer know, sir--?"

"Yes, I know the line, my lad, " said Captain Dresser. "I ought to!"

"Well, sir, there I climbs on by the buffers and coupling-chain of theguard's van to the step of the end carriage, and works myself along tillI reaches this; when, drawing myself up and looking in through thewindy, I thought I would get in here, not seeing nobody but young ma-aster and little missis in the corner--"

"You didn't see me, eh?" questioned the Captain, with one of hisquizzical chuckles. "You didn't see me, I'll wager. "

"No, sir, or I wouldn't have tried it on, " confessed Dick, with the mostopen candour. "I would a-been afeard like. "

"Lucky for you that you did, though, " said Captain Dresser, his littleblack beady eyes blinking away furiously. "If you had got in anywhereand not come across such a good-natured old donkey as myself, you wouldhave had the signal-bell rung to summon the guard, who would havestopped the train and given you in custody at the next station fortravelling without a ticket! But what are you going to do now, eh?"

"Please, sir, I dunno, " replied Dick, looking puzzled. 

"Humph, that's a pretty state of things for an independent younggentleman running away to sea!" said the Captain in a quizzing tone. "Do you know you're not half out of the scrape yet? You have got intothe train all right; but, how are you going to get out of it, eh--tellme that, my lad?"

"I dunno, sir, " again answered Dick laconically, still seeming unmovedby the critical nature of his position--"I dunno, sir. "

"Drat the boy!" exclaimed the Captain impatiently, stamping his foot. "There you are again with your `dunno!' Why, when we arrive atPortsmouth, the collector will be asking for your ticket; what will yousay then, eh?"

"I thought, sir, of jumping out afore the train got there, sir, " saidDick, scratching his head reflectively. "Aye, I did. "

"Broke your neck, probably!" growled the old Captain. "The best thingthat could have happened to you, my lad. "

Bob and Nellie meanwhile had been whispering together and comparingnotes apparently as to the state of their respective funds; for, Nelliehad extracted a little leather purse from some hidden receptacle in herdress, while Bob was feeling in his pockets. Before either could speak, however, Captain Dresser anticipated their evident intention. 

"Suppose now I paid your fare for you?" he went on, addressing Dick. "What would you say to that, eh?"

"Lor', sir, I'd be orful grateful, that I'd be, sir--I would indeed, sir, " eagerly replied the lad in an outburst of thankfulness; "and if, sir, I could work it out in any way so as to repay the money, I'd bethat glad yer wouldn't know me. "

"Humph!" grunted the Captain again. "We'll see about that. "

Bob and Nellie, both of whom had been listening with intense interest toDick's cross-examination, were quite carried away with enthusiasm atthis happy termination of the animated discussion that had gone on. 

"Oh, you dear Captain, " cried Nellie, hugging the old sailorrapturously. "You've just done what Bob and I wished. "

"Have I?" said he smiling. "I don't see it, I'm sure. "

"Yes, you have, you have, " she replied impulsively. "Bob and I werejust going to offer the same thing when you took the words out of ourmouth. "

"And the money out of my pocket, eh?" slyly added the Captain with achuckle--"eh, missy?"

"But we'd like to pay too, " said Bob. "Let us go shares, sir. "

"Not a bit of it, " retorted the other, blinking away as he alwaysappeared to do when excited. "That was only my joke. I will pay hisfare for him when we get to Portsmouth; for, I like the pluck of the ladin climbing on to the train like that, and not being daunted byobstacles in carrying out a planned purpose. Can't say much for hislooks though. He seems to me half-starved. "

The latter observation was uttered in an undertone, the Captain havingtoo much delicacy to comment on Dick's appearance in his hearing. MissNellie, however, acted instantly on the suggestion, which gave it apractical turn. 

"Are you hungry, poor boy, " she asked Dick--"very hungry?"

"No, miss, " he answered humbly; "not pertick'ler, I be. "

"But you could eat a sandwich, perhaps?" said she, opening a parcelwhich their mother had put up for the refreshment of Bob and herselfduring their journey. "Don't you think you could?"

Dick's eyes glistened. 

"I'll try, miss, " said he, trying to speak calmly; although they couldsee that he was really almost ravenous at the sight of the food. "Ithinks as how I could eat a mou'ful. "

"Give him the lot, poor chap, " cried the old Captain; but Nellie did notneed this admonition, being in the very act of handing over the parcelof sandwiches to Dick even while the old sailor spoke. "There's no goodin his making two bites of a cherry, as the saying goes. "

"Eat these, my poor boy, " cried Nellie. "Bob and I had buns at Waterloobefore the train started, and we shan't want anything till we get toauntie's house. "

"Fire away, old chap!" chimed in Bob, noticing that the lad hesitated amoment in accepting the proffered gift. "You needn't be afraid. Nellieand I are not hungry like you. "

Bob's friendly tone, coupled with the sight of the tempting viands, atonce removed any of Dick's lingering scruples; and, in another minute, he was gobbling up the sandwiches like a famished wolf--his fellow-travellers looking on with the utmost complacency and satisfaction atthe rapidity with which he got rid of them, bolting the little squaresof bread and meat one by one. 

All this time, the engine was puffing and snorting away as if it had abad attack of asthma, giving a fierce pull every now and then to thedragging carriages behind it; while, when the stalwart iron horseoccasionally loitered in his paces or slackened speed in going round asharp curve on the line, the coupling-chains would rattle as they losttheir tension and the buffers of the carriages behind, going faster forthe moment than the engine, would come together with a bang thatvibrated through the marrow-bones of all!

The scenery altered, too, every instant along the route; the woodedheights around Guildford and Godalming and Haslemere, which the poetTennyson loved and where he lived and died, being succeeded by a stretchof level landscape, and this again by the steep bare hills encirclingsleepy Petersfield. 

Presently, a range of downs came in sight, curving away in horse-shoefashion from right to left, on which were a series of red-brick, detached structures, placed along the topmost ridge at equal intervalsapparently, until they were lost in the distance. 

As they approached these nearer, Miss Nellie's sharp eyes noticed thaton the landward side these brick piles were covered with a slant ofsmoothly-shaven green turf that contrasted conspicuously with the chalkysurface of the sloping ridge. 

"What funny things those are!" said she, pointing these out to Bob. "Are they houses, or tombs, or what?"

"Where, what do you mean?" asked the Captain, turning round from hiscontemplation of Dick, who, having finished the packet of sandwiches, was now carefully searching the piece of newspaper in which they hadbeen wrapped up on the chance of there being a few stray crumbs left. "Why, hullo, here we are close to our destination! Those `funnythings, ' as you style them, missy, are the Portsdown forts--you are notfar out though, in your estimate of their appearance, for they're called`Palmerston's Follies' by the political wags here. "

"Are we near Portsmouth then?" said Nellie, peering out anxiously. "Idon't see anything!"

"Oh yes, missy, quite near, " replied the Captain, also looking out ofthe window. "There's Havant just in front. Don't you smell the sea?"

"Yes, Captain, yes, I do! Yes, I do!" cried Bob and Nellie together, clapping their hands. "Isn't it nice! Isn't it jolly!"--Bob, it may betaken for granted, using the latter term of approbation; Nellie addingon her own private account another, "Ah, how nice!"

"Well, that's a matter of opinion, " said Captain Dresser dryly, hisexperiences of the fickle element not having, perhaps, always beenpleasant ones; but, before he could explain this, the train, with apiercing shriek of warning from the steam-whistle of the engine, glidedinto the station. 

"Hav-'nt! Hav-'nt!" shouted the porters with lungs of brass and voicesof leather or gutta-percha. "Hav-'nt! Hav-'nt!"

"That's just what this boy will say when the guard asks him presentlyfor his ticket, or the money for his fare, " said the Captain, with hiscomical chuckle and merry twinkle of his bird-like eyes, pointing toDick as the ticket-collector banged open the door of the carriage as iftrying to wrench it off its hinges and held out his hand. "He haven'tgot his ticket. Hav-n't, you see, my dears! Ha--ha--ha!"

CHAPTER THREE. 

ROVER DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF. 

The ticket-collector appeared puzzled for the moment, especially onnoticing a poor, ragged fellow like Dick travelling in a first-classcompartment "in company with gentlefolks, " as he thought to himself;but, at the instant this reflection passed through his mind, herecognised the Captain as an old and regular passenger on the line, besides being one from whom he had received many a `tip, ' so he at oncetouched his cap, responding with a grin of sympathy to the Captain'scheery laugh, as if he thoroughly entered into the joke. 

"Oh, haven't he, sir?" said he, the ungrammatical phrase dropping morenaturally from his rustic tongue; "then he'll have to get 'un sharp, orpay the fare, sir. "

"Never mind about that, my man, I'll pay for his ticket, for he'stravelling with me, " replied the old sailor as he fumbled in hispockets, shoving his hand first in one and then in the other; producing, at last, a number of gold and silver coins, mixed up with coppers, abunch of keys, a clasp-knife, and his snuff-box, which somehow or otherhe had put back in the wrong place. "How much is it?"

"Where from, sir?" inquired the man, reaching out his hand for Bob andNellie's tickets. "Far up the line, sir?"

"No, only from Guildford, " replied the Captain. "That's only half-wayfrom London; but there's half-a-sovereign, and you may keep the changefor yourself. "

"Thank you, sir, " said the collector, touching his cap again and takingthe coin. He still lingered, however, as if wanting something more buthesitated to ask for it. 

"Well?" ejaculated the Captain impatiently. "What is it, my man?"

"Your ticket, sir, " said the man deferentially. "You forgot to give itme, sir. "

"Zounds!" cried the other, blinking away furiously and moving hiseyebrows up and down as he searched vainly in all his pockets, finallydiscovering that he held the missing ticket in his fist all the while!"I declare I forgot all about it. You see I was ready for you, though, eh?"

"All right, sir, good-day, " said the man, receiving the ticket andshutting the carriage-door gently, with a bow and a smile and anothertouch of his cap; and, the next moment, with another sharp unearthlyshriek of the steam-whistle similar to that which had heralded itsentrance into Havant station, the train, giving a joggle and a jerk asit got under way, was speeding along again, across the rattling bridgesthat spanned the moats of the fortifications and through the Portsealines, to the terminus beyond at Landport. 

"Here we are, children, " exclaimed the Captain, on its pulling up at thejourney's end. "Here we are at last!"

"And is this Portsmouth?" inquired Nellie. But, she need not have askedthe question; for, as she looked down the platform she cried outexcitedly in the same breath--"Why, there's aunt Polly! There's auntPolly!"

"Let me look, let me look, " said Bob, trying to squeeze in betweenNellie and the Captain, who was fumbling at the handle of the door, endeavouring to open it. "I can't see her, Nell! Where is she?"

"Hold on, can't you!" grumbled the old sailor, angry with the door fornot yielding at once to his efforts. "If you wait a moment you'll beable to see your `aunt Polly' and everybody else to your heart'scontent; that is, as soon as we can get out on to the platform. Bothertake the door, how it sticks!" With this exclamation, muttered in ahoarse, stifled voice, by reason of his half-stooping position, theCaptain put his knee against the obnoxious door; and this, giving way tohis shove, unexpectedly, nearly precipitated him into the arms of MrsGilmour, the aunt of our hero and heroine, who had recognised littleNellie's face at the window and advanced to the side of the carriage, without his perceiving her approach. 

"Dear me, Captain Dresser!" she cried with a laugh, just catching himfrom falling on his face. "I've no doubt you are very glad to say meagain, but you needn't be quite so demonstrative in public. "

The Captain rose up, looking very red and confused. "I'm sure I begyour pardon, ma'am, " said he, bowing and laughing, too, as he recoveredhimself; "but those porters slam and jam the doors so, that they neverwill open properly when you want to get out quickly!"

His further excuses, however, were cut short by Nellie springing out ofthe carriage before he could utter another word. 

"Oh, aunt Polly!" she exclaimed, hugging the smiling lady, who was aplump merry-looking little body, with dark wavy hair and large, lustrous, almond-shaped eyes, which, strange to say, were of an intenseviolet blue, presenting a curious contrast. "You dear auntie Polly!How glad I am to see you again!"

"So am I, me dearie, to say you, " replied the other, with the slightestwee bit of a brogue, aunt Polly having been born in the North ofIreland, where blue eyes with black hair and brogues are common; "an'Bob, too, the darlint! How are you, me boy!"

"All right, auntie, right as a jiffy, " said he brightly, greeting herwith like effusion to his sister. "Really, I don't know when I was soglad as I am to come down here to the sea and see you. Hullo, though, I'm forgetting about Rover!"

With these words, Master Bob darted down the platform to the guard's vanat the end of the train, with Miss Nellie cantering after him; bothleaving their newly-met aunt as unceremoniously as the Captain hadtumbled against her on emerging from the carriage the moment before!

However, Mrs Gilmour did not appear to mind this, only exchanging asmile with the old sailor, who of course remained beside her; whileDick, as if anxious to make some return for the kindness shown him, hadstarted taking the children's traps out of the train without waiting forany one's orders. 

As for the Captain, he had no luggage beyond the queer-looking malaccawalking-stick called a `Penang lawyer' which he held in his hand, nevertroubling himself with `stray dunnage, ' as he said, when travelling byrailway. 

Bob and Nellie were presently seen in the distance, in close colloquywith the guard, who, after a bit, lugged out from his van, with muchdeliberation of movement and `gingerliness' of manner, a huge blackretriever, who apparently did not wish just then to issue forth from hisretreat. 

No sooner, however, had the imprisoned animal once more touched the firmground of the platform with his four paws, than, carried away withdelight at being able to stand again on something that wasn't moving, hesuddenly wrenched himself free from the guard and began plunging aboutin a mad gambol around. 

"Come here, Rover!" cried Bob. "Come here, Rover!" echoed Nellie, alikein vain; for, although Rover approached and jumped up on each in turn inexpression of his pleasure at seeing them, he would dart away the nextinstant out of reach, evidently afraid lest the chain should be takenhold of, and he be boxed up again in purgatory. He would not attend toany, "Come here, sir!"

"He's too artful to be caught, sir, " said the guard, laughing at thedog's antics. "He's too knowing by half. "

"Oh, he'll come along fast enough after me, " answered Bob with somereserve of manner, thinking it rather beneath his dignity, as well asunjust to Rover, to bandy words about the latter's disobedience oforders; and so, he walked on up the platform, whistling as he went andfollowed by Nellie, towards where aunt Polly and the Captain werechatting, the old sailor explaining to Mrs Gilmour how Dick'sacquaintance had been made, she having been much impressed by his civiland attentive demeanour, if not by his appearance. 

"Come on!" shouted Bob between his whistles, as he got nearer; Nellie, close behind him, likewise whistling and repeating his cry, "Come on, Rover!"

Rover came on; but, not altogether in the way his young master andmistress wished. 

Galloping now in front, now in rear of the two, and then prancingtowards them sideways, but always out of reach, he whirled his heavychain about like a lasso, to the danger of everybody around; many of thepassengers being still on the platform looking after their belongings orwaiting for cabs, most of the vehicles that had been drawn up on thecab-rank having already driven off loaded. 

"Do catch hold of him, Bob!" cried poor Nellie in accents of alarm. "He'll trip up somebody. "

Rover seemed to hear and understand what she said; and, as if anxious tooblige her, at once twirled his clattering chain round the legs of a fatold lady, who, with her arms full of a number of parcels, was waitingfor one of the porters to extract yet more from the carriage in whichshe had come down. 

"Look out, ma'am!" said the Captain, seeing what was coming. "Keepclear of the dog, ma'am, or he'll foul your hawse!"

But, he was too late for the warning to be of any use; for, at the sameinstant, the old lady was whirled violently round and round like ateetotum and fell to the ground, uttering the while a series of wildshrieks, coupled with the smothered exclamation--"My good gracious!"

"I thought so!" ejaculated the old sailor as he hastened up to herrescue, and, with the aid of the porter, succeeded in placing her on herfeet again; while Nellie and Bob set to work collecting her parcelswhich were scattered in every direction. "I hope you are not hurt, madam, " Captain Dresser added when the lady was, as he expressed it, `all a-taunto' once more. "I hope you are not hurt!"

However, she did not pay any attention to the polite inquiry, displayingmore solicitude for her portable property than her person. 

"Who's to pay for my eggs, I'd like to know?" was all she said. "Is'pose they be all bruck to pieces!"

She evidently alluded to the largest of her parcels, which still layclose to her on the platform, neither Bob nor Nellie having yet reachedthis to pick it up; for, a thick yellow fluid was oozing out from thewrappings, plainly betokening the nature of its fragile contents andtheir fate. 

"Oh, never mind your eggs, ma'am, " cried the Captain impatiently. "We'll reimburse you for their loss, as the dog has caused the mischief. I was thinking of your bones!"

"Drat my bones and the dog, too!" said the old lady with equal heat. "One doesn't get noo laid eggs every day, I'd 'ave yer to know, sir, andI was a-taking these a puppose for my darter, which I brought all theway now from Gi'ford only to 'ave 'em bruck at last!"

"Never mind, never mind, " replied the Captain soothingly; and on MrsGilmour at the same time telling her that she kept fowls and would sendher some more fresh eggs the very next morning, to replace those broken, if she would give her address, the old lady was finally pacified. 

She went off presently, with all her remaining parcels, in a cab, whichthe Captain insisted on paying for; the good dame beaming withsatisfaction and looking as if she thought she had made rather a goodthing than not by the mishap!

Meanwhile, Bob and Nellie had to interrupt their task of parcel-collecting to go after the truant Rover, who, not satisfied with thedamage he had already done, was in active pursuit of the trafficmanager's favourite cat, right through the station. 

The roving delinquent ultimately `treed' his prey in one of the waiting-rooms, where poor pussy sought refuge on the mantelpiece, knocking downa glass water-bottle and tumbler in jumping thither out of the reach ofthe frantic Rover, who scared half to death the occupants of the room ashe dashed in, all in full cry!

Then a most delightful concerted duet ensued. 

"Mia-ow, phoo, phit, phiz!" screamed pussy with all the variedexpression of which the cat language is capable, running up the gamutinto the treble and dying off in a wailing demi-semi-quaver. "Mia-o-w!"

"Bow, wow, wuff!" chanted Rover, singing his portion of the refrain indeep bass notes that produced a hollow echo through the waiting-room, making the noise seem to proceed from twenty dogs instead of one. "Wough!"

Nor was Rover long content merely to take part in a musical performanceonly. 

Bent on more active hostilities, he jumped up at the angry cat in herretreat on the mantelpiece--standing up on his hind legs for thepurpose; and then, being only able to sniff near enough for puss to slaphis face energetically with her paws right and left with a sharp `smicksmack, ' Rover uttering an agonised howl that came in at the end of thechorus and must have been heard all over the station. 

A catastrophe was avoided, just in time, by Bob and Nellie appearing onthe scene of action; when, catching hold of the end of Rover's chain, they bore him away captive again to where their aunt and the Captainwere waiting and wondering at their long delay. 

Nemesis followed behind the trio in the shape of one of the railwaypolice. 

He came in the ostensible interests of the hunted cat and damagedproperty belonging to the waiting-room; but the elders of the partyregarded him to be more intent on obtaining `hush-money, ' wherewith toblot out Rover's misdeeds and line his own pockets at the same time. 

"Here's a pretty to-do, children, " cried the Captain, taking this viewof the matter and slipping a shilling into the man's hand to avoid anyunnecessary explanations. "That dog of yours is like a wild elephant inan Indian jungle!"

"He's a fine dorg, " observed the railway policeman parenthetically, pacified by the coin he had received and willing on the strength of itto forget alike the onslaught on pussy and the broken glass. "Finestdorg I ever seed for a retriever, sir. "

"Ah, handsome is as handsome does!" replied the Captain sententiously. "Dogs, like children, ought to be taught to behave themselves. "

Nellie, however, did not like this sort of slur on Rover's character. 

"Oh! Captain Dresser, " she exclaimed. "It was only his playfulness ongetting out of confinement. "

"Humph!" ejaculated the old sailor--"playfulness, eh? A playful doglike that once bit me playfully in the calf of the leg, stopping all myplay for a fortnight!"

"Oh, Rover wouldn't do that, " said Bob--"No, not he!"

"Wouldn't he? I'd be sorry to give him the chance, " answered the otherwith a laugh, as he assisted Mrs Gilmour into an open fly, into whichthe children's luggage had been already put by the attentive Dick. "There'd be precious little of me left, I'm afraid, if he once tackledme!"

Nellie and Bob then got into the fly, the Captain following them ontheir aunt's pressing invitation to escort them all down to her house onthe south parade; while Dick, after having, with the help of the cabman, lifted Rover, who behaved like a lamb during the operation, on to thebox-seat, where he was wedged in securely between the trunks and thedriver's legs, climbed up himself and away they all started--`packed astightly as herrings in a barrel, ' to use the Captain's expression. 

In the evening, after dinner, the whole party went down to the shore, where Bob and Nellie made their first acquaintance with the sea; adistant view of which they had a glimpse of previously from the balconyof their aunt's house on the parade. 

Both were in ecstasies of delight as they gazed out on the undulatingexpanse of blue water, with the tiny little wavelets rippling up totheir feet caressingly, as if inviting them to wade in over theglittering pebbles of the beach that glistened like jewels where wettedby the tide. 

"Jolly, isn't it?" cried Bob enthusiastically. "Don't it make a noisethough!"

"Not a noise, " said Nellie, shocked at his unromantic description. "Thewaves seem to say `Hush!' and speak to me, as softly as if they wantedto send me to sleep!"

"Bravo, young lady!" put in the Captain, overhearing her remark. "`Rocked in the cradle of the deep, ' as the old song runs, eh? ThoughI've almost forgotten all my Greek knocking about the world, or ratherhad it knocked out of me in a midshipmen's mess, if I recollect aright, old Homer describes the noise of the waves nearly in your own words, mydear. His term for it is _polyploisboio thalasses_--the `murmuring ofthe many-voiced sea!' Grand, isn't it; grand, eh? But, let us walkround the castle, and then you will see and hear it better. "

They accompanied him, accordingly, around the sloping rampart; MrsGilmour walking by the side of the old sailor, while Bob and Nellielingered behind with Dick. 

On their way round the castle, Master Bob occasionally pitched in apiece of stick for Rover to fetch out of the sea, which the energeticdog did with the utmost gusto; barking with glee as he dashed into thewater and coming out sedately with his coat all dripping, to deposit thestick at his master's feet, with a shake that sent a shower of dropslike rain all over them, making them laugh in glee as great as his. 

The stragglers presently came up with the seniors of the party who hadseated themselves on a little ledge of the wall on the highest point ofthe glacis at the back of the old fortification, from whence away to thewest the sun could be seen setting in a glory of crimson and gold behindthe dockyard, with the masts of the ships standing out in red relief, asif on fire. 

In front were the purple hills of the Isle of Wight, with the white-terraced Ryde lying in between, its houses lit up likewise by the raysof the sunset, and their windows all aflame; and, under their feet, stretching away to where it met the hills opposite and to the harbour'smouth and Haslar breakwater on the right, with the now twinkling Nablight on the extreme left, was the dancing, murmuring, restless sea, itshue varying every instant, from the rich crimson and gold it reflectedfrom the western horizon to the darker shades of evening that camecreeping up steadily from the eastward, blotting out by degrees itsprevious bright tones. 

Two or three merchant ships were anchored at Spithead; but there was nota single sail moving in sight. 

All was still; and, as if in harmony with the scene, the Captain andMrs Gilmour sat in silent contemplation of the sight before them, neither uttering a word. 

The children, however, were not quiet long. 

"Hi, Rover, fetch it, good dog!" cried out Bob presently, pitching thestick into the water that laved the base of the sloping rampart. "Fetchit out, sir; fetch it. "

Rover raced, slipping and sliding, down the slope, plunging in with animpetus that sent him souse in head and ears under the surface; but, hesoon re-appeared to view and, swimming out to where the stick floated, gripped it valiantly and made his way back to the shore, holding it inhis mouth crosswise. 

Now, however, poor Rover experienced more trouble in climbing out thanhe had probably anticipated; for, it being deep water at the foot of theramparts and the stones being slippery, as the animal got his fore-pawson the stonework and tried to raise his hind legs, back he would slipagain into the sea. 

"Poor fellow!" said Bob. "Why, he can't get up. I will go and helphim. "

So saying, he began to clamber down the slope. 

"Stop, boy, stop!" cried the Captain excitedly. "You will fall in!"

"Come back, Bob, come back!" screamed Nellie and her aunt together. "Come back!"

But, hardly able to keep his footing, it was out of Bob's power eitherto arrest his rapid descent of the downward slope or to retrace hissteps. 

The very cries of warning, indeed, of those above brought about theresult they sought to prevent; for, looking up and waving his hand toreassure them, Bob all at once lost his footing, rolling over andplunging into the water right on top of Rover, his yell of dismay beingechoed by a howl of pain from the dog. 

CHAPTER FOUR. 

DICK TO THE RESCUE. 

"Gracious heavens! The boy will be drowned!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, wringing her hands frantically and rushing forward at once; whileNellie, equally excited, burst into tears, clinging to her aunt's side. "Oh, what shall I say to his mother? He's lost; he's lost!"

"No, he isn't--not a bit of it; no more drowned than I am, " cried theCaptain, laying his hand on Mrs Gilmour's arm, and putting both her andNellie back, to prevent any rash impulse on their part. "You just keepas cool as the young rascal must be now! I'll fish him out in anotherminute, if you'll leave me alone; and, he'll be none the worse, barringa wetting. "

With these words, the spry old gentleman, who was more active than manya younger man, began making his way cautiously down the treacherousslope of the rampart, aided by his trusty malacca cane, poking his stickbetween the niches of the stonework to act as a stay, and so prevent hisslipping on too fast. 

But, quick as he was in his movements, hardly had he made a dozensliding steps down the decline, the action of the whole scene beingalmost instantaneous, when he felt, rather than saw, some one else glideswiftly past him still more expeditiously; and then, there was anotherheavy plunge in the water below, where Bob and Rover were struggling fordear life. 

"Bless my soul!" ejaculated the Captain, halting abruptly with theassistance of his sheet anchor, the malacca cane, as he half turnedround. "The woman's never such a fool!"

He thought it was Mrs Gilmour. 

But, he was mistaken. 

Dick had anticipated them both. 

Bob's unlucky slip and cry of alarm as he fell into the sea, his aunt'sexclamation of terror, the Captain's movement to the rescue, and thegrateful Dick's perilous jump, for it was almost a leap from the top ofthe castle wall, were all, as has been already pointed out, the work ofa moment; the chain of incidents taking much longer to describe than tohappen. 

So, there, before you could cry `Jack Robinson, ' as the Captainafterwards said, two boys, instead of one, were struggling with the dogin the water; and of all these three, to heighten the excitement of thescene, Rover alone was able to swim!

Bob, of course, had plunged in unwittingly, while Dick's only thoughtwas to help one from whom he had received such unexpected kindness; thelad not having reflected for an instant on the danger of the task he wasundertaking. 

Now, therefore, although on reaching the water the grateful boysucceeded in carrying out his object of catching hold of Bob, bothimmediately sank under the surface. 

They came up the next moment locked together, spluttering andsplattering for breath and holding up their hands for aid, an actionwhich naturally sent them down again; the tide meanwhile sweeping themaway from the shore. 

Rover was master of the situation--that is, he and the Captain, who bythis time had scrambled down to the last ledge of the rampart, and tookin the position of affairs at a glance. 

"Hi, Rover, good dog, fetch them out!" cried the old sailor, at the samemoment throwing off his coat and preparing to go into the sea, too, ifneed be. "Fetch 'em out!"

But, there was no necessity for this appeal to Rover, who did notrequire any orders or directions as to his duty. 

The dog, like the Captain, was quite aware of the perilous position ofhis young master, and had already determined in his own mind what wasbest to be done under such circumstances. 

Master Bob having come down flop on top of him as he was trying toclamber out, had in the first instance somewhat obscured his faculties;and the subsequent appearance of Dick on the scene, as he was justrecovering from this douche, did not tend to make matters clearer to theretriever, whose eyes and ears were full of water, besides beingmoreover tired out by his previous exertions. 

Any hesitation poor Rover might have felt, though, barely lasted aninstant; for, the sight of two figures battling for life in the seathere under his very nose, and the knowledge that one of these was hisyoung master, brought in an instant all his sagacious instincts intoplay. 

He did not need the Captain or anybody else to tell him what to do. Nothe!

Giving his head a quick shake to clear his eyes and uttering a short, sharp bark, as if to say, `Hold on, my boys, I'm coming to help you!'the dog appeared to scramble through the water by a series of leaps, rather than to swim, towards the spot where the two unfortunates werestruggling. 

Reaching the pair, he at once gripped Bob's collar in his powerful teethand proceeded to tow him to land, Dick hanging on behind; and Rover'smuzzle was already turned shorewards, dragging his double burthen asternere the Captain's cry of encouragement came to his ears, although onhearing it the noble animal redoubled his efforts. 

It was, however, a terrible ordeal; nay, almost a hopeless one!

Had the boys been conscious, Rover would have had comparatively easywork of it, as then one of them might have held on to his collar and theother to his tail, and he could have pulled them both out without muchtrouble; as it was, now, they clung so frantically to each other and tohim that they retarded in lieu of assisting his gallant attempt to savethem. 

But, help was at hand. 

Just as the Captain called out, a couple of coastguardsmen were cominground the corner of the castle on their beat towards the east pier; and, hearing his shout to Rover, they stopped. 

"Hullo!" cried one of the men, observing that Mrs Gilmour was in astate of great agitation, with Nellie sobbing beside her and the Captainat the bottom of the sloping rampart in the act of taking off hiscoat--"Anything wrong, mum?"

Mrs Gilmour's heart was so full that she could not speak at once, andthe man who addressed her jumped to a wrong conclusion from the absenceof any explanation at the moment. 

"Oh, I see, mum, he's a-going to commit sooacide? We'll soon spoil hislittle game, mum. Bear a hand, Bill, will ye?"

So saying, the speaker and his comrade, with a catlike ease that camenaturally to them from their practice at sea, where they had a rollingdeck beneath their feet much more difficult to traverse than theslippery slope they were now on, had reached the spot where the coatlessold sailor stood almost as these words were uttered, leaping down thesteep descent in a sort of `hop-skip-and-jump' fashion. 

"None o' that!" exclaimed the elder of the two men who had previouslyspoken, grasping hold of one of the Captain's arms while his mate, or`Bill, ' caught hold of the other. "A-going to make away with yourself, eh? Not if we knows it, sir!"

At the same instant, however, Captain Dresser turned round with a faceon which the animated expression produced by his determination to tryand rescue the boys was mingled with a puzzled look of astonishment atbeing tackled in this unceremonious manner when on the very point ofaction. 

His black eyes twinkled and his bushy eyebrows moved up and down at afine rate as he looked up indignantly to see who had dared to lay handon him. 

"My stars!" ejaculated the coastguardsman Bill, dropping hold of theCaptain's arm as if it had been a hot poker, "I'm blest if it ain't theold cap'en!"

The other man also recognised him at the same time, releasing the oldman equally hurriedly. 

"Beg pardon, sir, " he said. "Didn't know it wer' you, sir!"

But the Captain made no reply to this apology. 

He only pointed to the water just below where they were standing, andwhere the head of Rover could be dimly seen in the gathering dusk of theevening, now rapidly closing in, splashing his way to the shore. 

"Boys--save--quick--drown!" he stammered out brokenly. "Quick, quick!"

The men did not require any further explanation or incentive. 

Without stopping to doff a garment, in they both plunged, boots and all;and, before the Captain knew that they were gone from his side, they hadreached poor Rover, now quite exhausted, gallant dog though he was!

Then, one of the men grasping hold of Bob and the other catching hold ofDick, they swam with the two boys between them, still locked together, to the end of the rampart wall that jutted out over the water. 

Here the Captain was ready and waiting to lean over and lend them ahand, keeping the while a steady purchase to his feet by the aid of hismalacca stick, which possibly had never been of such service before;and, presently, the coastguardsmen, the boys, and Rover, who would notlet go his young master's collar and was lifted out along with him, wereall once more again on firm ground. 

By this time, a small crowd of spectators had collected on the spot, composed principally of persons who had come out for a walk round thecastle and had their attention arrested by the scene passing in thewater below. 

The majority of these now, in company with Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, hurried to the lower part of the rampart, which, on the side nearer theharbour, did not shelve down there so abruptly, broadening out bydegrees to a wide flat surface where it joined the esplanade borderingthe beach. 

At this spot, the coastguardsmen laid down the rescued boys, who werequite insensible from their long immersion; when Rover, at lengthsatisfied that his young master was ashore and in safe hands, waspersuaded to loose his grip of Bob's collar, contenting himself byventing his joy in a series of bounds and barks around his inanimateform and licking his apparently lifeless face. 

Both Mrs Gilmour and the weeping Nellie thought they were dead. 

"Poor boys!" sobbed the former, her tears falling in sympathy with thoseof the little girl, who was too stunned to speak. "But, what shall Isay to Bob's mother? How can I tell her he is drowned?"

"Drowned? Not a bit of it--no more drowned than you are!" repeated theCaptain, somewhat snappishly, his anxiety and excitement preventing himfrom speaking calmly, as he turned and bent over the inanimate bodies. "Help me, men, to rouse them back to life. "

The coastguardsmen bent down, too, and lifting the boys up wereproceeding to lay them down again on their faces, when the Captainstopped them. 

"You idiots!" he exclaimed. "What are you going to do, eh?"

"Why, to let the water run out of 'em, sir, " replied the elder of thetwo, looking up in his face and touching his forelock with his finger inproper nautical salute. "Ain't that right, sir?"

"Hullo! that you, Hellyer?" cried the old gentleman, recollecting him asa former coxswain. "Glad to see you again. By Jove, you came just nowin the very nick of time to save these youngsters! Excuse me though;but, you've got hold of the same foolish idea a lot of other peoplehave, that turning a poor half-drowned body upside down to empty him, asif he were a rum-cask, is the best way to recover him!"

"What should we do, sir?" asked the man with a grin. "I allers thoughtit were the right thing, sir?"

"Why, turn the poor fellows slightly a one side and then rub themsmartly to restore the circulation, " said the Captain promptly, suitingthe action to the word; and, the next instant, he and the men werebusily shampooing the boys till their arms ached. "Rub away, Hellyer;rub away!"

Rover growled at first on their touching Bob, apparently thinking theoperation to mean an attack on his young master--he didn't mind whatthey did to Dick. But, presently he altered his opinion on the subject, helping so far as he could by means of barking and licking Bob's faceand feet alternately to bring him back to consciousness. 

In a short space, although to the anxious onlookers it seemed hours, theefforts of the Captain and coastguardsmen were rewarded by Bob drawing adeep breath, which, it must be confessed, was sadly impregnated with theodour of tobacco from the air which Hellyer had puffed into his lungs toinduce respiration!

This tobacco made poor Bob cough, but it likewise caused him to get ridof the greater portion of the sea-water he had swallowed; and afterthat, he opened first one eye and then the other and, finally, hismouth, exclaiming, much to the delight of Rover, who was just then inthe act of licking his face, "Good dog!"

"Bravo!" cried the Captain, stopping his shampooing process on Bob'sbody and rubbing his own hands instead, in great glee. "Now we'll do!"

As for Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, they expressed their delight by almosthugging the little newly-recovered life out of Bob and giving way tofresh tears, only this time they cried for joy and not from grief; whileRover could not contain himself, whining in a sort of hysterical fashionbetween his loud yelps, and jumping up on every one around as if to say, "Oh, I am so glad, my young master's all right again!"

Aye, Bob was soon all right, getting on his feet and being able to standwithout assistance, the only effect of his ducking being that he lookedpale, as far as could be seen in the twilight. 

He was, besides, most unmistakably, as wet as a drowned rat!

Dick took a little longer time to recover; but, shortly afterwards, he, too, was himself once more. 

When things had arrived at this happy stage, the Captain, who had beenput in a fidget by the crowd clustering round--`a pack of star-gazingfools' as he whispered pretty audibly to Mrs Gilmour--thought it wastime to make a move. 

"Hellyer, you and your shipmate had better call round at my house in themorning, " he said to his old coxswain, the elder of the twocoastguardsmen. "You know my house, eh, the same old place?"

"Aye, aye, sir, " replied the man, saluting as before. "We knows it wellenough!"

"Then, good-night to you, and thank you both for your timelyassistance, " said the Captain, turning away with a touch to the brim ofhis hat in acknowledgment of their salute. "Come on, boys, you'll haveto hurry home fast to prevent catching cold after your swim. "

So saying and offering his arm to Mrs Gilmour, who was feeling faintafter all the anxiety she had gone through, the brisk old gentleman ledthe way round the castle. 

He insisted that Bob and Dick should run races across the common ontheir way towards the south parade, in which gymnastic display MissNellie and Rover both joined, for company sake as well as to set a goodexample; the big black retriever going over more ground than either ofthe competitors ere they reached `The Moorings, ' as Mrs Gilmour's housewas christened. 

"Won't you come in?" said Mrs Gilmour on their getting to the door, when the Captain raised his hat in token of adieu. "Do come in and havea rest, me dear Captain?"

"No, thanks, not up to cribbage to-night, " he replied, shaking his headand chuckling. "Feel my old bones too sore from sliding down thatconfounded rampart. I mustn't keep you chattering here, however, foryou've got to see about those youngsters. You are sure you don't mindthe trouble of putting up my foundling Dick for the night, eh?"

"I should think not, especially after his jumping into the sea so noblyafter Bob; and the poor boy, sure, not able to swim either!" said shewarmly. "Dick shall not only stop in my house to-night, but as long asyou please to let him, I tell you; and sure it's always grateful I'll beto him. "

"Well, then, " cried the Captain, "there's no use my stopping yarninghere like an old woman now that point is settled. You'd better go andsee after the boys at once. "

"Oh, I'll say after them, " she answered, laughing at his impatience, ashe almost pushed her within the doorway and rushed down the stepstowards the gate--"I'll say after them, never fear!"

"Mind you put them between the blankets, and give them each somethinghot to drink when they turn in, " he shouted back over the railings. "I'll come round in the morning and give them a lecture to wake 'em up!"

With these last words, off he went; his malacca cane coming down with athump on the pavement at every third step he took, until the sound diedaway in the distance--"Stump, Stump, Thump!--Stump, stump, Thump!--Stump, stump, Thump!"

CHAPTER FIVE. 

BOTH "SUITED. "

Dick was now "in clover!"

Running away from a poor home and the tyranny of a cruel step-father, hehad, in the first instance, providentially succeeded in getting `a freepassage, ' as the Captain expressed it, to Portsmouth, the goal of hisfondest ambition. 

Then, after thus successfully overcoming the obstacles that lay in theway of his going to sea, so far as this initial stage to that ultimateend was concerned, the lucky fellow, in addition to gaining theCaptain's favour and making the acquaintance of Bob and Nellie, put thefinishing-touch to his good fortune by winning over Mrs Gilmour to hisside--a lady who, as a friend, was worth perhaps all the rest, she beingtrue as steel and thoughtful and considerate in every way. 

For the Captain's sake alone, she would willingly have given the poorhomeless lad house-room; but, beyond that, she had taken a strong fancyto Dick from noticing his willing manner and anxiety to oblige those whohad been kind to him at the station, an impression that was more thanconfirmed subsequently when she witnessed his gallant conduct inplunging into the water to try and save the impulsive Bob. 

So, Dick was in clover!

Like Master Bob, he had his wet clothes stripped off as soon as he gotwithin doors, and wrapped in warm blankets was put into an equally cosylittle bed; a hot treacle posset being afterwards given to each boy whencomfortably tucked in by Mrs Gilmour herself, which drink even Bob, accustomed as he was to good things, said was `not so bad, you know, 'while to poor Lazarus-like Dick it tasted as nectar!

Nor was this the end of our runaway's good fortune. 

In the morning, after a sound sleep which effectually banished all theill effects of their impromptu ducking from both Bob and himself, Dickawoke, or rather was awakened by his hostess in person, to be told thatthe Captain was waiting and wanted to see him particularly. 

"I think too, my boy, it really is time for you to get up, " added thelady kindly. "Do you know it's past ten o'clock?"

"Law, mum!" exclaimed Dick, ashamed of his laziness, having beenaccustomed at Guildford to turn out at sunrise, that is if he went tobed at all; for his unkind step-father often locked him out of a nightwhen in an especially angry mood. "Law, mum, whatever be I a-doing ofa-lying here in broad daylight! I humbly asks yer parding, mum. "

"Oh, never mind that, you're not so very late, my poor boy, consideringall you went through yesterday and last night, " said Mrs Gilmoursmiling. "But, come now, you mustn't keep the Captain waiting, or we'llhave him trotting upstairs after you himself. Dress as quickly as youcan; I have had your things dried at the kitchen fire, and here they arein this chair near the door. "

So saying, Mrs Gilmour left the room, and Dick hopped out of bedimmediately afterwards, proceeding to put on his clothes; thinking, poorfellow, as he did so, how shabby and ragged they were, and that they andhe were altogether sadly out of place in an apartment which, to hisrustic eyes, used only to the surroundings of his village home, appeareda palace. 

As soon as he was dressed and opened the door of the room, he found, waiting on the landing, a maidservant, who, first taking him downstairsto the kitchen, where she gave him a good breakfast, afterwards showedhim the way to the parlour. 

Here Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie, were allassembled, apparently ready to go out, the ladies having their walkingthings on. 

"A pretty time of day for a youngster like you to be getting up, " criedthe old sailor jocularly as he entered. "I wonder the bright sun hasn'tscorched your eyes out long before this, sir!"

Dick was commencing an abject apology, but Mrs Gilmour stopped him. 

"Oh, never mind the Captain, " she said laughing at the poor lad's lookof contrition. "He's only `taking a rise' out of you, as he would callit. "

"Humph! is he?" growled the Captain, blinking away and pretending to bevery serious. "But, come now, we must be off. I want you to go alongwith me into Portsmouth; so, get your cap and we'll start at once. "

"Mayn't we come too?" shouted Bob and Nellie in one breath together. "Do say yes, Captain Dresser!"

"Well, I don't know about you, Miss Nellie, for I may have to go intoplaces where little girls may be in the way; besides which, I don'tthink you would like to leave your aunt all alone, eh?"

"Of course not, dear Captain, I forgot that, " said Nellie, acceptingthis quiet suggestion of the old sailor as a final settlement of thequestion, without betraying a particle of ill-temper or dissatisfaction. "I will stop with auntie. "

"Ah, you shan't lose anything by doing it, me darlint, " smilingly saidMrs Gilmour, giving her an approving little pat on the cheek by way ofcaress. "You and I, Nell, may have a little expedition of our own, perhaps. "

"But I may go with you and Dick, " interposed Bob, by no means content tobe left behind. "Mayn't I, Captain?"

"Oh yes, you may go or come, just as you please to call it, " replied theCaptain, making a move towards the door, with an energetic thump of hismalacca cane on the floor. "Look sharp, though, or it will be middaybefore we're out of the house!"

This contingency, however, did not happen, for within a minute or so heand the two boys were out on the parade; the party being furtherincreased by the presence of Rover, who had been lurking in the passageand followed them out unobserved. Not a bark or a gambol betrayed thathe was after them, until the Captain on turning round suddenly saw himin their rear, close up to Bob's heels. 

"Hullo!" he exclaimed; "I can't have that dog with us. Rover is a veryfine fellow and a brave animal too; but, he's somewhat skittish asyesterday's proceedings at the railway-station showed me. I don't wantto get into any more scrapes with him, such as knocking down harmlessold women--she was a tartar, though, by Jove! Besides, I may have to gointo the dockyard, and they do not allow dogs in there. "

"Don't they?" asked Bob, catching hold of Rover's collar and preparingto take him back to the house. "Not even if they're well-behaved?"

"No, my boy, they draw the line at puppies! I mean those jackanapes ofmidshipmen and sub-lieutenants, as they call mates now, with theirdandified airs. In my time, the reefers weren't half so conceited anddidn't try to turn themselves into land swabs as they do now-a-days, "said the Captain grimly, he being, like most sailors of the old school, a thorough believer in the times gone by. "But, go back now, and takethat rascal of a dog in. Dick and I will wait for you at the corner. "

Rover did not like this arrangement at all, but he had to submit to theforce of circumstances; so, Bob disposing of him within doors andclosing the outside gate as well for additional precaution, allpresently made a fresh start for their destination. 

While crossing Southsea Common, the boys were delighted with the sightof the soldiers of the garrison mustered for brigade drill, the troopsmarching and wheeling and countermarching to the music of the bands, which played such inspiriting airs that even the old Captain could nothelp keeping step, his trusty malacca coming down with a thump on thespringy turf, in time with the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums. 

Bob had seen a regiment or two before in London, at parades in front ofthe Horse Guards, or when reviewed on a small scale in Hyde Park; but, never previously, had he witnessed so many battalions marshalledtogether in all the pomp of war as now--the men formed up in doublecolumns of companies, with the sunlight glinting on the bayonets oftheir sloped rifles and their legs looking like those of giganticcentipedes as they stepped forward in changing ground to the left, firstthe red stripe showing on one trouser-leg and then only the dark clothof the other. 

"How funny they look!" exclaimed Bob, lost in admiration as he took noteof these little details, not a thing escaping him, the hoarse commandsof the officers, the galloping to and fro of mounted _aides-de-camp_ and`orderlies, ' the tooting bugle-calls, each in turn attracting hisattention. "All move as if they were one man!"

"Aye, they march well, my boy, " replied the Captain, taking advantage ofthe opportunity to point a moral lesson. "But, recollect it's all owingto discipline and obedience to orders!"

Beyond the troops, the blue sea could be seen reflecting the hue of thecloudless sky overhead, its surface dotted here and there with the whitesail of some yacht or other, passing between Cowes and Spithead, orbeating out into the Channel in the distance; while, in the moreimmediate foreground, anchored abreast of one of the harbour forts, wasa modern ironclad man-of-war. 

"What is that?" inquired Bob, pointing in the direction where the vessellay, looking like some marine monster asleep on the water. 

"Humph! you may well ask the question, " growled the Captain, jobbing hisstick down with an extra thump. "That is what they call a `ship' now-a-days! She's an `armour-clad' of the latest type, with all theimprovements, though very different to the craft I and your Uncle Tedwere accustomed to see in the good old times when ships were ships!"

"Why, Captain Dresser, " said Bob sympathetically, "she's just like theroof of a house!"

"You're not far out, my boy. They all resemble floating barns more thananything else, " grumbled the old sailor, bewailing the gallant frigatesand three-deckers of the past. "But, come on now, let us get to thedockyard, and I will show you one or two vessels of the right sort thatwe still have got left, thank God, to remind us of what England's navyonce was!"

With these words, he dragged the boys, much against their will, awayfrom the busy scene on the common and past the last remaining bastion ofthe old fortifications that once encircled Portsmouth; and, finallygetting into the town he dived through all sorts of queer little streetsand alleys, and then along the new road running by the side of theGunwharf until they reached the Hard. 

Here, stopping outside an outfitter's shop not far from the dockyard, the Captain seized hold of Dick and pulled him forwards towards thedoor. 

"Do you know what I'm going to do with you, eh, you young rascal?" heasked him, with a chuckle which took all the sternness out of histhreatening tones. "Can you guess?"

"No, sir, " replied the lad; but, evidently did not anticipate anythingvery dreadful, for he grinned all over his face. "I carn't!"

"I'm going to give you a new rig-out, " went on the other. "Do you knowwhat that is, eh?"

"No, sir, " again answered Dick, thinking though that the Captain perhapsmeant something to eat. "I dunno. "

"Well, come in here and you shall see. "

So saying, the old sailor led the way into the shop, where on his givinga few short, sharp, and curt directions to an attendant, Dick was takenin hand and twisted this way and that and measured; the whilom raggedrunaway being in the end apparelled in a bran-new suit of navy sergethat made him look like a smart young reefer, very different indeed tothe ragged runaway who had forced his way into the railway-carriagefrightening Bob and Nellie during their journey Portsmouth-wards fromGuildford twenty-four hours before. 

"There, what do you think of yourself now?" asked the Captain, wheelinghim round in front of a cheval glass so that he could see his reflectionin the mirror. "Eh, you rascal?"

Dick did not say anything; but, the look, of mingled wonder, self-satisfaction and gratitude, that overspread his speaking face more thanrewarded the good-hearted sailor for his thoughtful generosity. 

"He only wants his 'air cut and a pair o' decent boots, sir, and thenhe'll be a reg'ler tiptopper, " suggested the shopman. "I wouldn't knowhim now for the same chap ag'in, sir!"

"Thank you, my friend, for the hint, " said the Captain politely. "Youcan fit him with some boots, and we'll see about the `'air' when we getoutside!"

Bob, of course, went into convulsions of laughter when the Captain thusmimicked the man's disregard of his aspirates. 

The shopman's failing in this respect was all the more amusing from thefact that the poor fellow was quite unaware of his `little weakness';and, one boy's merriment affecting the other, while the Captain joinedin from sympathy, they all went out of the shop in the highest ofspirits, the old sailor before leaving directing the attendant to sendhome another suit of clothes with a complete sailor's kit, so that Dickmight have what he called "a regular rig-out. "

Subsequently, Dick had his hair cut, after which the Captain took himinto the dockyard, with the intention of his being entered for servicein the Navy, the boy having expressed so strong a desire to go to sea. 

However, as he was not broad enough in his chest measurements, althoughsufficiently tall for his age, his joining a training ship had to bepostponed until our runaway had, as the old warrant officer at the depotsaid, "Stowed a lot more beef and bread in his skid. "

But, even beyond this material point, Captain Dresser was reminded bythis courteous veteran of something he had entirely forgotten; namely, that Dick would have to produce a certificate of birth to show hisproper age, and also a paper containing the written consent to his goingto sea of his parents, or guardians in the case of his being an orphan--which he was nearly if not quite--before Dick would be permitted to join"Her Majesty's Service. "

These documents, it may be mentioned here, slightly anticipatingmatters, Captain Dresser subsequently obtained through the clergyman ofDick's parish at Guildford, to whom he wrote, and who gave the youngrunaway the best of characters. 

This gentleman stated that the lad was not only honest and truthful, butthe steadiest scholar he had in his Sunday school; and he added that thegood news which he had been able to tell Dick's mother after hearingfrom the Captain, of his having fallen into such friendly hands, hadmade up in some way for her sorrow at being forced to part with her dearson. 

"Well, what shall we do with you now?" said the Captain to Dick on theirleaving the dockyard, where, in addition to going on board the trainingship attached to the port, the boys had seen most that was to be seen--going over the smithery; the building-sheds, in which ponderousleviathans of iron, that would anon plough the deep, were being weldedtogether; the mast and rigging houses; the sail-loft; they had gone overeverything in fact! "You see they won't have you yet in the Navy, mylad; so, what is to be done with you, eh?"

"Dunno, sir, " answered Dick, scratching his newly-shorn headreflectively and staring in the face of the old sailor, who had stoppedabruptly just outside the dockyard-gates to ask him the question. "I'llleave it to yer for to settle anythink yer likes. "

"Humph! I tell you what, we'll wait a bit and then try again for thetraining ship three months hence, or so; when, perhaps, you'll havebetter luck, " decided the Captain, who it need hardly be told hadalready made up his mind on the subject. "But, in the meantime, my lad, you shall stop with me and see if you can make yourself of use. "

"Oh, sir, " said Dick with tears in his eyes and his voice broken withemotion. "I can never thank yer, sir, for all as ye've done for me!I'll work day and night, sir, and do anythink as yer tells me!"

"We'll see, my lad, " replied the Captain, walking on again, the watermenalong the Hard touching their hats to him. "I shall probably take youon board my yacht by and by, when the racing season begins. You will, thus, learn something of your future profession; and be able to pull arope and box the compass before the time comes for you to join thetraining ship. "

"O-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob, the vista of delight thus presented beingalmost too great for words; for the sight of the sea, now that he hadseen it and been actually on board a ship, had made him long for a sail, his involuntary dip of the previous night not having any deterrentinfluence. "Won't that be jolly, Dick?"

Dick grinned a sympathetic grin, his own peculiar way of showing howpleased he was. 

"I only hopes as how I'll suit the Capting, " said he earnestly. "I'lltry to--that I will!"

"Suit me, eh?" cried that worthy with a chuckle, and his little blackeyes twinkling away. "That will be `changey for changey, black dog forwhite monkey, ' as the niggers say. You will have to suit me in returnfor my having _suit-ed_ you, my lad, eh? Ho--ho--ho!"

CHAPTER SIX. 

ON THE BEACH. 

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" cried Bob presently, stopping on their wayhomewards at a nice-looking pastry-cook's shop hard by the dockyard-gates, whose wide green windows framed an appetising display of cakesand buns which appealed strangely to his gastronomic feelings; while afragrant odour, as of hot mutton-pies, the speciality of theestablishment, a renowned one in its way amongst middies and such likesmall fry who frequented the neighbourhood, oozed out from itshospitably-open door, perfuming lusciously the air around--"I am _so_hungry!"

"By Jove, my boy, so am I, too, now I think of it, " said the Captain, likewise coming to a halt and proceeding to enter the shop, followed byhis eager companions. "Let us pipe down to lunch at once. This is afamous place for pies; and you may rely on having mutton in 'em and notpuppies!"

The old Captain `stood treat, ' of course, and the boys had such aglorious `tuck out' that they were behind time when they got back toMrs Gilmour's house on the south parade. 

"Aunt Polly" and Nellie were both ready and waiting for them outside, dressed in walking attire; while Rover was frisking round the ladies, though he darted up to his young master the moment he caught sight ofhim, forgetting, with all a good dog's magnanimity, the ill-treatment hehad received in not being allowed to accompany him to the dockyard. 

"Sure, you're very late, Captain dear, " began Mrs Gilmour when the oldsailor came near, with Dick following in his wake; but, suddenlynoticing the latter's wonderful transformation of appearance, shestopped her laughing reproaches anent the Captain's dilatoriness, exclaiming in admiring tones--"My good gracious! Dear me! Who is thisyoung gentleman?"

Bob was in ecstasies. 

"We were sure you wouldn't know him, auntie!" he cried, as little MissNellie joined him in a gleesome dance of triumph round the blushing, new-fledged Dick, and Rover gambolled behind the pair, barking loudly, in sympathetic accord. "We were sure you wouldn't know him!"

"Sure, you're right, me dears, I wouldn't really have recognised him forthe same boy at all, at all!" cheerfully agreed Mrs Gilmour, as sheturned towards the ex-runaway and scrutinising his altered guise indetail, critically but kindly. "Are ye, really, Dick, now?"

"Yes, mum, I bees the same b'y, surely, " replied Dick, with a broad grinthat spread over his face from ear to ear. "It's the Cap'en, God blesshim, mum, as made me for to look so foine that my own mother wouldn'tknow me, leastways nobody else--thanks be to the Cap'en, mum. "

"Pooh, pooh, there's nothing to make a fuss about, " interposed the oldsailor, anxious to let these personalities be dropped, being very shy ofany of his good actions being noticed. "The boy's all right. He hasonly changed his rig, that's all, the same as you put on a new dress ongoing out walking, ma'am. "

"That's a nice thing to say of an economical person like me, sir!" saidMrs Gilmour, shaking her parasol at him in jocular anger. "One wouldthink I was one of those fine ladies who have a new dress every day inthe week, and milliners' bills as long as your old malacca cane. "

"Well, well, I apologise, ma'am, for I know better than that, as you arefar too sensible a woman to spend all your money on finery, " said theCaptain, with a low bow. "But where are we going to now, for I see youare dressed for walking?"

"Down to the sea, of course, " she replied. "Nell and I went up toLandport this morning, while you and Bob were `transmogrifying' thatboy, as my old father used to say. We paid a visit to the old ladywhose eggs were broken yesterday by Master Rover's gambols. You mayremember, Captain, I promised her some from my own fowls in place ofthose she lost. Don't you recollect how anxious the poor creature wasabout them?"

"Yes, yes, I remember, " said the old sailor, his face beaming with good-humour. "You're always kind and thoughtful. "

"Whish!" cried Mrs Gilmour playfully. "None of your blarney!"

"Oh, Bob!" exclaimed Nellie, interposing at this juncture, while theystill all stood talking together in front of the house, neither MrsGilmour nor the `old commodore' having yet given the signal for sailing, "she has got such a dear little place of her own. "

"Who's `she'--the cat's mother, Nell?"

Nellie laughed. 

"I mean the old lady who had the broken eggs. "

"Aye, " put in the Captain, "and who nearly had broken legs likewise!"

This made Nellie laugh again. 

"Oh, you know who I mean very well, Bob, " said she, when she had ceasedto giggle. "She has got the dearest little cottage, you ever saw. Itis fitted up just like the cabin of a ship inside; her husband, who wasa ship's carpenter, having done it all. Why, the walls are covered withChinese pictures and shells and curios which he picked up in all sortsof outlandish places, bringing them home after his various voyages. Oh, Bob, you never saw such funny things. "

"Didn't the woman say something of having an invalid daughter?" inquiredthe Captain. "I think I heard her speak of one yesterday at thestation. "

"Yes, poor thing, " said Mrs Gilmour. "She's got spinal complaint, andwe saw her lying on the sofa in the queer little parlour crammed withcuriosities that Nell took such a fancy to. She seems a very nice girl, so happy and contented although in such a helpless state! Her oldmother, whom I know you thought fussy and selfish, is quite devoted toher. "

"Humph!" ejaculated the Captain, taking no notice of Mrs Gilmour'sallusions to his original impression of the stout personage with whomRover had, so to speak, entangled them into an acquaintance. "Perhapssome of that old port wine of mine would do the girl good, eh, ma'am?"

"Not a doubt of it, she looks so pale and delicate, " replied MrsGilmour. "But there will be plenty of time to think about that to-morrow. Let us go on now to the beach, or it will be too late for us todo so before dinner. "

"Come on then, I'm yours obediently, " said the Captain with his usualchirpy chuckle. "By Jove, though, I think I've had pretty nearlywalking enough for one day for an old fellow turned sixty. "

This time they steered clear of the castle, the exciting memories of theprevious evening being too vivid in Mrs Gilmour's mind to allow theboys to go near the treacherous footing of the rampart again. 

Instead of going thither, they turned their footsteps rather to theeastern portion of the shore; where a shelving, shingly beach slopedgradually down to the water, and thus no danger to be feared of MasterBob or any one else plunging in suddenly without warning, as happenedunfortunately before. 

Here, everything was new to the young people; the wet pebbles glisteninglike jewels after a last polish from the receding tide; the masses ofmany-hued seaweed; the quaint shells; and the rippling waves, laughingin the sunshine, and sportively throwing up in their joyous play littleballs of foam or spindrift, which the buoyant south-westerly breeze, equally inclined for fun and frolic, tossed about here and there high inthe air, until they were lost to sight in the distance beyond theesplanade. 

One or two silver-grey gulls, with white waistcoats on, as if going tosome nautical dinner-party, were hovering above and occasionally makingdashes down in their swooping curvilinear flight to pick up stray tit-bits from the tideway, to assuage their hunger until the grander repastto which they were invited was ready; while a whole colony of theirkindred, the black, brown, and dusky-coloured gulls, not so fortunate inbeing asked out to the festive banquet, were anon floating about ingroups on the water close inshore, anon suddenly taking wing and flyingoff, only to settle down again on the surface further out. 

Even more impressive, however, than all these evidences of moving lifearound, there was the sea, that touched their feet almost, and yetstretched out in its illimitable expanse away and away--to where?

It was Nellie to whom these thoughts occurred; as for Bob, he wasengaged in chasing little green crabs as they scuttled over the shingle, busily collecting as many as he could get hold of in a little pond hehad scooped in the sand. 

This pond would now be filled as some venturesome wavelet broke over itsbrink; and then be drained as the tide fell back, leaving the poorlittle crabs left high and dry ashore to repeat their scramblingattempts at escape, only to tumble over on top of each other as theytried to climb the precipitous sides of Bob's reservoir. 

"Isn't it jolly!" cried that young gentleman, looking up at the Captain, who, leaning on his stick, stood near, watching his futile endeavours torestrain the vivacious, side-walking, unwieldy little animals thatseemed gifted with such indomitable energy, and equal perseverance tothat of Bruce's spider. "Isn't it jolly, sir?"

"Not very jolly for the crabs, though, " observed the old sailor smiling. "I don't think they would say so if you asked them the question!"

"I'm not hurting them, " said Bob in excuse. "I only want to see themclosely. "

"I suppose you think they are all alike and belong to the same species, eh?" asked the Captain. "Don't you?"

"Well, I don't see much difference in them, " replied Bob hesitatingly. "Do you, Captain Dresser?"

"Humph! yes. I can see in that little pond of yours, now under my eyes, no less than three distinct varieties of the crab family. "

"Never!" exclaimed Bob incredulously. "Why, they all look to me thesame queer little green-backed things, with legs all over them that theydo not know how to use properly. "

"While you think, no doubt, that you could teach them better, eh?" saidthe Captain chuckling; but, the next moment, raising his hat and agraver expression stealing over his face as he looked upward towards theblue vault overhead, he added earnestly--"Ah, my boy, remember they havea wiser teacher than you or I! However, you're wrong about their beingall similar. The majority of those you've caught are certainly of theordinary species of green crab and uneatable, if even they had been ofany tolerable size; but, that little fellow there is a young `velvetfiddler' or `swimming crab. ' If you notice, his hind legs areflattened, so as to serve him for oars, with which he can propel himselfat a very good rate through the water if you give him a chance. Looknow!"

"I see, " cried Bob eagerly. "He's quite different to this other chaphere with the long legs. "

"Oh that is a `spider crab. ' He is of very similar proclivities to hiscousin though he lives ashore. The cunning fellow uses his sprawlinglong limbs in lieu of a web, and will lie in wait in some hole betweenthe rocks, artfully poking his claws out to catch unwary animals--oftenthose of his own or kindred species--as they pass by his den. "

"What is this queer little chap?" asked Nellie, pointing to another, which was partly concealed in an old whelk-shell. "He seems to want toget out and can't. "

"Why, my dear, that is the `hermit crab. ' He does not want, though, toleave that comfortable lodging he has secured for himself, as you think. He's an `old soldier, ' and knows when he's well off! He belongs towhat is called the `soft-tailed' family, and being defenceless astern hehas to seek an artificial protection against his enemies, in place ofnatural armour. "

"How funny!" said Nellie, watching the little animal more closely. "What a queer fellow!"

"Yes, " continued the Captain, "and, that is the reason why he goesprowling about for empty shells. Often, too, really he's such apugnacious fellow, he will turn the rightful tenant out, taking forciblepossession. Just look at his tail and see how it is provided with apair of pincers at the end. He is enabled by this means to hold onfirmly to any shell, no matter how badly it may fit him, which hechooses for his temporary habitation. "

As he spoke, the Captain extracted with some little difficulty thebuccaneer crab from the whelk-shell, showing its peculiar formation, quite unlike that of the others. A young shrimp who had lost hislatitude was also found in Bob's pond, and the discovery led the oldsailor to speak of these animals that form such a pleasant relish tobread-and-butter; and he told them that one of the best fishing-groundsfor them was off the Woolsner Shoal, some four miles further along thebeach to the eastwards, while another good place was Selsea Bill, moreeastward still. 

While the Captain was giving this little lecture about the crabs andtheir congeners, Rover was prancing around and barking for some one topitch in a stick or something for him to fetch out of the sea. 

Presently, in bringing back a piece of wood which Bob had thrown intothe water, Rover dragged ashore a mass of seaweed, a portion of whichwas shaped somewhat like a lettuce and coloured a greenish purple. 

The Captain pounced on this at once. 

"Hullo!" he exclaimed--"why, it is laver. "

"Isn't that good to eat?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "I fancy I've heardpeople speak of it in London, or somewhere. "

"I should rather think it was!" he replied. "It is, too, one of thebest sorts, the purple laver, a variety of some value, I believe, in theLondon market. "

"I can't say I should like to eat it, " said Nellie, squeezing up hernose like a rabbit and making a wry face. "It looks too nasty!"

"Wouldn't you?" retorted the Captain. "I can tell you, missy, it isvery good when well boiled, with the addition of a little lemon-juice. It tastes then better than spinach. "

"Do all these sorts of seaweed grow in the sea, Captain Dresser?" askedBob. "I mean in the same way as plants do in a garden?"

"No, my boy, " replied the other. "They attach themselves to the rocksat the bottom of the sea, not to draw their sustenance from them in thesame way as plants ashore derive their nourishment from the earththrough their roots; but, simply to anchor themselves in a secure havenout of reach of the waves, getting all their nutriment from the water, which is the atmosphere of the sea in the same way as air is that of theland. Of course, some of these weeds of the ocean drift from theirmoorings, like that bladder wrack there with the berries. "

"Don't they pop jolly!" observed Master Bob, popping away as hedelivered himself of this opinion. "Pop! There goes one!"

"You are not the only boy who has found that out, or girl either, " saidthe Captain with a smile to Nellie, who was industriously following herbrother's example. "But, look here, children, I can now see somethingstranger than anything we've noticed yet. "

"What?" exclaimed Bob and Nellie together, stooping down to where theCaptain was poking about with the end of his malacca cane in the sandyshingle. "What is it, sir?"

"A pholas, " he answered. "It is one of the most curious burrowinganimals known, and has been a puzzle to naturalists for years, untilGosse discovered its secret, as to how it succeeded with its soft andtender shell in penetrating into the hardest rocks, within whosesubstance it is frequently found completely buried, so that, like the`Fly in Amber, ' one wonders how it ever got there!"

"What did you say it was?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "A `fowl, ' sure? Faithit's a quare-looken' bird, Cap'en dear!"

The Captain smiled, but he was not to be tempted away from his hobby. 

"The pholas, I said, ma'am, " he replied. "The `pholas dactylus, ' asscientific people call it, which, until Gosse, as I said, discovered itsmode of action, was quite a puzzle to every one; although, now that themystery is out, all wonder it was not cleared up before! If you look atthe head of the shell, you'll see it is provided with a regular seriesof little pointed spines at the end of the upper portion. These spinesare of a much harder material than the main part of the shell, and arefixed into it, as you could notice better with a microscope, just in thesame way as the steel points for the notes of any air are attached tothe barrel of a common musical-box, projecting like so many teeth. "

"Yes, I can see them, " observed Bob, who was listening attentively. "Look, Nell!"

"Well, then, " the Captain went on, "besides this toothed head of his, the animal is provided with a sucker at his mouth, by which he can holdon to any wooden pile or stonework he may wish to perforate so as tomake his nest inside; and, gripping this firmly with his sucker andworking the head of his shell slowly backwards and forwards with a sortof circular rocking motion, he gradually bores his way into the objectof his affections, getting rid of the refuse he excavates by the aid ofa natural siphon that runs through his body, and by means of which heblows all his waste borings away--curious, isn't it?"

"Very, " said Mrs Gilmour; while the children, equally interested, wanted to learn not only all the Captain could tell them of thispeculiar little animal, but also everything he knew of the other wondersof the shore. "Sure I wish I knew all you do, Captain!"

But, if the Captain was learned and good-natured, the children taxed hispatience, Miss Nellie especially. 

She had not lost any time in setting about making that collection ofshells which she had mentioned to him in confidence when coming down inthe train it was her intention to begin as soon as she got to the sea;and, all the time he had been speaking of the little crabs and otherthings, she had been busily gathering together all sorts of razorshells, pieces of cuttle-fish bone, cast-off lobsters' claws, and bitsof seaweed, which she now proudly drew his attention to, expecting theold sailor's admiration. 

He was, on the contrary, however, extremely ungallant. 

"All rubbish!" he exclaimed on her asking him if he did not think herpile of curiosities nice. "But, those corallines, young lady, are good. They were long supposed to belong to the animal world, like thezoophytes; instead of which they are plants the same as any otherseaweed. When that little branch you have there is dry, if you put theend of it to a lighted candle, it will burn with an intense white flame, similar to the lime-light, or that produced by electricity. "

"We'll try it to-night!" said Bob emphatically. "We'll try it to-night!"

"But, the Captain says it must be quite dry, " interposed his sister, somewhat appeased by the praise bestowed on her corallines for thewholesale condemnation her collection had received. "Isn't that so, Captain?"

"Right you are, my deary, " said he. "They would not burn unless they'rejust like tinder. "

Dick, who had meanwhile been listening to all that was being said, without intruding on the conversation, busying himself in picking upshells for Miss Nell, and, occasionally, diverting Rover's attention bythrowing a stick for him into the sea, happened to come across, just atthis juncture, a queer-looking dark-coloured object that resembled anindia-rubber tobacco-pouch more than anything else. 

"What be this, sir?" said he, holding up the article for inspection. "Be he good for aught, sir?"

"Why, it's only a piece of seaweed, of course!" declared Master Bob, settling the question in his own way. "Any one can see that. "

"You're wrong, " said the Captain. "You're quite wrong, Master Sharp!"

"It's a fairy's pillow-case, " cried Nellie. "Isn't it?"

"Your guess is the nearer of the two, missy, " decided Captain Dresser, thumping his malacca cane down to give greater effect to his words. "Strange to say, you've almost hit upon the very name; for, the fisher-folk hereabouts and down the coast call the things `mermaids' purses. 'They once contained the egg of some young skate or shark, who, when hewas old enough, hatched himself, leaving his shell behind; and thisbeing elastic, like gutta-percha, closed up again, so that it cannot betold how he got out. "

"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "I've often wondered what thosethings were, and never knew before. "

"It's never too late, ma'am, to learn, " said the Captain. "I myselfonly took up natural history, gathering the little knowledge I possess, after I was put on half-pay. Indeed, it was all owing to poor Ted, yourhusband and my old shipmate, that I ever thought of reading at all. Hesaid it would be something for me to fall back upon for occupation whenthe Admiralty shoved me on the shelf; and, by Jove, he was right!"

"Poor Ted!" sighed Mrs Gilmour somewhat sadly. "Poor old Ted!"

"Not `poor, ' ma'am, " said the Captain reverently, taking off his hat andlooking upwards as he had done before when calling the children'sattention to Him who taught the insects. "He's `rich' Ted, now; andbetter off in his snug moorings aloft than you and I here below!"

"Yes, I know that, but it is hard to be content, " replied the other, appearing lost in thought for some moments; until presently, recoveringherself, she looked at her watch, when, seeing what time it was, shesaid they must start back for home at once. "Come along, children, time's up!"

"O-o-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob and Nellie in great consternation. "Why, we've only just come!"

"O-o-o-oh!" mimicked their aunt, amused at their woebegone faces. "Doyou know that we've been down here nearly four hours! If we stop muchlonger, you'll be `oh-ing' for your dinner, when it will be too late toget any, and how would you like that?"

"Humph! I thought I was feeling a bit peckish, " said the Captain, wheeling about and preparing to head the return procession home, accepting Mrs Gilmour's remarks as a command. "Come on, children, we've got our sailing directions; so let us up anchor at once, foryou'll have plenty of the beach before you see the last of it. I tellyou what, though, I'll do for you if you are good. "

"What, Captain?" cried Bob and Nellie, hanging on to his coat-tails ashe stumped over the shingle by the side of their aunt, the faces of allnow set homeward. "What?"

"Ah, you must wait till to-morrow!" was all that they could get out ofhim, however, in spite of their wheedlings and coaxings as they crossedthe Common, with Dick and Rover following behind; the latter being toohungry even to bark, and only able to give a faint wag of his tail nowand then when especially addressed by name. "Wait till to-morrow!"

CHAPTER SEVEN. 

A SOUTH-EASTERLY GALE. 

"Oh, Nell!" cried Bob to his sister the same evening, some time afterdinner, which, through their explorations on the beach, was somewhatlater than usual--"I do wonder what that mysterious `something' is theCaptain keeps promising us for `to-morrow. ' Can he be thinking oftaking us for a trip on the sea in his yacht, or what?"

"I wonder, " was all Nellie could say in reply to her brother's remark, echoing, so to speak, his own words--"I do wonder--what he is going todo, Bob?"

Their anxious curiosity, however, availed them naught; the old sailorkeeping provokingly silent and being as mute as the Sphinx on thesubject, in spite of their wistful looks and watchfulness. 

Throughout the evening the Captain only opened his lips to say to MrsGilmour, with whom he was playing one of those post-prandial games ofcribbage which it had been his wont to indulge in before the advent ofBob and Nellie on the scene to interrupt their regular routine, "Fifteenfour and two for his heels, " or "I'll take three for a flush, ma'am, " asthe case might be. He only made use of such-like technical phraseologycommon to cribbage players, limiting his conversation to the game alone;without leaving a loophole for either of the impatient listeners in thecomer, who were turning over picture-books and otherwise divertingthemselves, equally silently, till bedtime, to get in a word edgeways. 

It was positively exasperating to Bob; especially as, the moment the oldsailor chanced to notice one or other of the children eyeing him moreattentively than usual on his looking up from the cards before him, hewould smile knowingly and nod his head in the most waggish fashion. 

"I don't think he means anything in particular at all, " said therestless Master Bob a little later on to Nellie again. "See how funnyhe looks! He's only `taking a rise' out of us, as he calls it. "

"No, Bob, " said Nellie, catching another quizzical look from the Captainjust at that moment, "I don't think that. I'm sure he means somethingfrom that way he winked at us. Besides, Bob, he promised, and you knowthat Captain Dresser never breaks his word!"

Presently the report of the nine o'clock gun rolled through the nightair, its echoes reverberating fainter and fainter until lost in thedistance to seaward. 

"By Jove!" exclaimed the Captain, throwing his cards on the table andrising from his seat, --"It's time for me to say good-night, or I shan'tget any beauty sleep!"

"It's not so very late, " said Mrs Gilmour, rising and going towards theopen window looking over the Common. "What a lovely night it is!"

"Aye, " replied the old sailor, following her, "the sky is bright andclear enough, certainly. "

"Yes, what myriads of stars are out! I can see the `milky way' quiteplain, can't you, children?"

"Where, auntie?" asked Nellie behind her, while Bob stepped out on tothe balcony the better to see. "I don't see it. "

Mrs Gilmour showed them the forked pathway leading up from the southand east to the zenith, looking as if powdered with the dust of starswhich `Charles's wain, ' as country people term the constellation, hadcrushed in its lumbering progress through the heavens. 

Away beyond this golden `wake' of starlets the more majestic planetsshone in stately grandeur; while the evening star twinkled in theimmensity of space, still further away to the westwards. 

"But the more you look at them, the further away they appear to go, " putin Nellie. "Though, strangely enough, they don't seem to get anysmaller. "

"Aye, aye, " acquiesced the Captain. "It _is_ awful to think of themillions of miles they are separated from our globe, and that yet theirlight reaches us! Why, it is wonderful for us to reflect on this!"

"Hark! I hear a church bell ringing, " cried Bob suddenly at this point. "It sounds as if it came from the sea out yonder. "

"So it does, my boy, " answered the Captain; "but not from any church. It is the bell on the Spit buoy that you hear ringing away to thesouthward. It is a bad sign for to-morrow, denoting as it does a changeof wind to a rainy quarter?"

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Bob, in such lugubrious tones that even Nellielaughed, although sharing his feelings about the prospect of a wet day, with the more than probable contingency of their being confined to thehouse. "What shall we do?"

"Cheer up, my lad, it may not be so bad after all, " cried the Captainheartily. "But, really, I must be going now; for, it is close on teno'clock and I shall lose all my beauty sleep, as I said before. Whereis young Dick?"

"Down in the kitchen with Sarah, " replied Mrs Gilmour to this question, ringing the bell as she spoke. "He'll soon be ready if you insist ontaking him away with you. "

"Humph!" ejaculated the other, "as he's going to be my valet or factotumby the agreement we made to-day, I don't think we'll be able to tellwhether we suit each other, ha-ha! if he remains in one house and I inanother, eh?"

"Perhaps not, " said Mrs Gilmour, smiling in response with the chucklehe indulged in at the recollection of his old joke on his way home fromthe dockyard; and Dick entering the room at the same moment, with abroad grin on his face as if he knew what they were talking about, sheadded--"Sure, here he is to spake for himself! Are you ready to go homewith the Captain, Dick?"

"Yes, mum, " answered the lad promptly. "Sarah told me as how the goodgentleman allers went away sharp at nine o'clock, and so I comes up asthe bell rung. "

"That's right, sharp's the word and quick's the motion; so we'd betterbe off, " said the old sailor, taking his hat and stick which thehousemaid, Sarah aforesaid, brought in from the hall. "Good-night, ma'am, --good-night, chickabiddies!"

"Good-night!" replied Mrs Gilmour, Nellie echoing her aunt's adieu witha parting injunction of her own. "Pray be sure and bring back Dick to-morrow morning, Captain!"

"Perhaps, too, you'll tell us then what you are going to do if we aregood?" said Bob entreatingly, "though you would not to-night. "

"We'll see how the cat jumps!" replied the Captain with his cheerychuckling laugh as he marched out of the hall and down the steps withDick after him; their retreating footsteps gradually dying away untilthey rounded the corner of the parade, the last sound heard being thatof the ferrule of the Captain's malacca cane as it rang on the pavement, keeping time to the rhythm of his tread, and his voice repeating in thedistance his quizzing rejoinder, "we'll see how the cat jumps!"

The `cat' evidently did not `jump' properly the next day, or, if itjumped at all, it executed that movement most decidedly in the wrongdirection; for, when morning broke, much to Bob and Miss Nell's disgust, they found that a stormy south-easterly gale had set in, accompanied bysmart showers of rain, which very unpleasant change in the aspect of theweather put all ideas of their going out entirely out of the question. 

During the night, the wind, which had veered more to the eastwardly, rose considerably, drowning the clanging knell of the Spit buoy bell andrattling the windows and doors, like some desperate burglar on thoughtsof plunder bent trying to effect a forcible entry. 

Not satisfied with this alone, `Rude Boreas' sent one of his imps downthe chimney to frighten poor Nellie, who lay trembling in bed, byflapping up and down the register of the grate; while another wouldevery now and then boldly rush up and grip hold of the house, shaking itviciously and causing it to rock from roof to basement--the rebuffedrascal then sailing away with a shriek of disappointed spite and rage, moaning and groaning like a creature in pain as it went off to vent itsmalice elsewhere!

Ere long the sea, unable to keep its temper under the bad treatment itreceived from the wind, which blew in its face most insultingly and keptcontinually `pitting and patting it, ' baker-man fashion, in a veryaggravating way, began to boil up in anger, lashing itself into apassion and roaring with fury; while the noise Neptune made by and bydeadened the roar of his assailant as he flung himself aloft in hisstruggles to grapple his nimble foe, and, missing his aim, rolled onwardhis boiling waves until they broke on the beach with the shock of anearthquake, amid a hurricane of foam!

The awesome sound of wave and sea combined kept Bob awake nearly allnight, the same as it did poor Nellie; the noise being so strange totheir London ears, although, in some respects, somewhat similar to thatof the street traffic of the metropolis. 

Not only did it keep him awake, but the battle of the elements madeMaster Bob get up much earlier than usual; for he came down to thedrawing-room before Sarah had time to finish dusting the furniture. 

Here he was soon afterwards joined by Nellie, who was equally `spry' inher movements; and the pair amused themselves till breakfast was readyin looking out of the windows at the busy scene which the offingpresented, so different to that of the previous evening, when all wasquiet and calm, with Neptune gone to sleep and Boreas speaking but in awhisper!

The whilom glassy surface of the deep was now, however, a mass of shortchoppy waves, the sea king's `white horses' leaping up friskily in everydirection and chasing each other as they rolled in landward, throwingaloft clouds of feathery spray in their sport, as if champing it fromtheir bits. Such was the scene far as the eye could span away to theeastward, where the sky was lit up by a stray gleam or two from thelong-since risen sun, who, though trying to hide himself behind a bankof blue-black clouds, was not quite able to conceal his whereabouts. 

Out at sea opposite, facing south and almost on the horizon line, a lotof vessels could be seen scudding down Channel, under short canvas butoutward bound, just coming in sight beyond Saint Helen's to make sure oftheir landfall and then disappearing the next moment behind the Isle ofWight, which shut them out from view; while, to the left, snuglysheltered under the lee of the Ryde hills, several others had run in andanchored off the Motherbank, waiting for a change of wind beforeproceeding on their voyage up, along the coast, to the river--`theriver' of the world, the Thames!

As Bob and Nellie gazed out, taking in all these varied details of thescene by degrees, they could not help being pleased, everything was sonovel; but, they saw something else beyond the prospect which cast `adamper' over their spirits, theoretically as well as practically. 

This was the rain, which came in squalls, the smart showers hurtlingdown in pattering intensity, momentarily shutting out the sea and itssurroundings from sight; while the swollen raindrops dashed against thewindow-panes like hail, trying, like the whirling storm-blast, to forcea passage into every nook and cranny that lay open to attack. 

"Oh dear!" sighed Bob dismally, his nose pressed like a piece of puttyagainst the glass. "It's awful rain, Nell; I don't think it will everstop!"

"Oh dear!" sighed Nellie, in responsive echo; but, just then their auntbustled into the room, her face the picture of good-humour, in markedcontrast to theirs, and she caught the mournful exclamation--"Oh dear!"

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Mrs Gilmour, in a cheerful tone, ontheir turning round as she entered. "To look at you both, one wouldthink that something dreadful had happened!"

"It's raining, " said Bob, in a melancholy tone. "It's raining, auntie!"

"So I can see, " retorted Mrs Gilmour. "Haven't I got eyes of my own, sure, me dear?"

"But we shan't be able to go out, auntie, " cried Nellie, in the mostbroken-hearted way. "We shan't be able to go out!"

"You need not be so disconsolate about that, dearie, " said the othersmiling. "It may not rain all day; and, if so, you'll be able to getout between the breaks when it holds up. But, there's Sarah ringing thebell, so, children, let us go downstairs now to the parlour; perhaps bythe time we have finished breakfast it will have cleared up and be quitefine. "

These cheery words, combined possibly with a savoury odour of frizzledbacon and hot coffee that came up appetisingly from below, had theeffect, for a while at least, of banishing Bob and Nellie's gloom, andwithout further ado they accompanied their aunt to the breakfast-roomdownstairs. 

Here, stretched on the hearthrug before the grate, in which a brightcosy little fire was blazing and looking uncommonly cheery, although itwas now summer, lay Rover. 

Without rising, he lazily greeted them by flopping his heavy tail, albeit he lifted his nose in the air and sniffed, as if in anticipationof sharing the coming meal with the welcome guests who so opportunelyappeared. 

"Well, I declare!" cried Mrs Gilmour, "I hope you make yourself athome, sir?"

Rover only flopped his tail the more furiously at this, his appealingbrown eyes saying, as plainly as dog could speak, that he was hungry, and that if she meant to be kind he would prefer actions to words. 

After breakfast, as the rain still continued, Bob got grumpy again andNellie mopey from not being able to go out on the beach as both longedto do. 

In this emergency, their aunt suggested that the unhappy children shouldoccupy themselves in sorting and arranging in an old album, which shegave them, some of the best bits of seaweed they had collected theprevious afternoon, the good lady advising them first to soak thespecimens in a bowl of fresh-water, so as to get rid of the salt andsand and other impurities, besides enabling the specimens to be laidflatter in the book for subsequent pressing. 

By this means, the time passed so pleasantly that Master Bob and MissNell were much surprised when Mrs Gilmour, who had meanwhile beenbusying herself about household matters, came to tell them, anon, thatthey must clear their things off the parlour-table on account of Sarahwanting to lay luncheon. 

"Why, auntie, " cried Bob, looking up from the basin in which he was busywashing the last lot of seaweed, "we've hardly begun yet!"

"You've been a long time beginning then, sir, " replied Mrs Gilmour. "Do you know that it is past one o'clock; so that you've been more thanthree hours at your task? See, too, my dears, the rain has cleared off, and it looks as if it were going to be fine for a bit. "

"How nice, aunt Polly!" said Nellie, the neat-handed, carefully liftingup the album out of Sarah's way so that she might spread the cloth. "Ideclare I never thought once of looking out of the window to see if itwere still wet. Did you, Bob?"

"No, " he answered, "I was too busy helping you, Nell. "

"Ah, my dearies, " interposed Mrs Gilmour, taking advantage of theopportunity to point a moral, "you see what it is not to be idle andhaving something to do! If you had not both been so engrossed with yourtask, you, Master Bob, would have been `Oh-ing' all over the house andgoing to each window in turn to see if the rain had stopped, lookinglike a bear with a sore head; while you, Miss Nell, would probably haveshed as many tears as would have floated a jolly-boat, as CaptainDresser would say in his sailor language!"

"Oh, auntie!" exclaimed Bob impetuously, "I never say `Oh' like that, doI?"

"Sure you've answered the question yourself!" replied Mrs Gilmour, speaking in her racy brogue. "That's just what I should have had tolisten to all the morning but for my thinking of that album, which I'mglad has amused you both, my dears, so well. Ah, children, children, there's nothing like having something to do. I'll tell you somethingone of the poets, Cowper I think, has written about this in his homelyverse:--

 "`An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless as it goes as when it stands!'

"What d'you think of that, me dears, for an illustration of a personwithout occupation for mind or body--does the cap fit anybody here, eh?"

Bob was silent; but Nellie took the lesson to heart. 

"Yes, auntie, I know it's true enough, " she replied. "I like thoselines; papa taught them to me when I was a tiny little girl. I wonderif he learnt them first from you?"

"No, dearie, " said Mrs Gilmour, drawing her towards her with anaffectionate caress. "Our father, your grandpapa that was, taught thatlittle verse to us years ago, when your papa and I were of the same ageas Bob and yourself; and I have never forgotten them, as you see, dearie. But, sit down now and have your luncheon. Bob, come to thetable; Bob! What on earth are you staring so out of the window now for, I wonder? Bob, I say!"

This repetition of his name in a louder key made the delinquent jump;and he turned round in a hurry. 

CHAPTER EIGHT. 

"TO-MORROW COME NEVER!"

"I really beg your pardon, Aunt Polly, for my inattention!" cried Bob, in a state of great excitement. "It's the Captain!"

"Sure, you don't mean that, my dear, " said Mrs Gilmour, equallyflurried, rising at once from the seat she had just taken at the head ofthe table. "Is it him, really?"

"Oh, yes, auntie, " replied Bob, returning to his post of observation inthe corner of the window. "There he is coming along the terrace, withDick at his heels. "

"Indeed, now?" said Mrs Gilmour, who had come up to Bob's side. "Letme look for meself. Sure and you're right. It's him and none other, and he's coming along at a grand pace, too!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Bob. "Isn't it jolly, auntie?"

"Very jolly, " agreed Mrs Gilmour, more sedately, laughing at Bob'secstasies, the boy, like most youngsters, being all extremes. "I callit very nice of him, Nell, don't you?"

"Delightful!" chimed in Nellie, catching hold of Rover's fore-paws andmaking him dance round the room with her in high glee, Rover barking toexpress his sympathy with her excitement. "How good he is--I meanCaptain Dresser; not you, Master Doggy!"

"It is well we know what you do mean, " said her aunt smiling, as Nelland Bob, with Rover dashing madly after their heels rushed into the hallto open the door. "Ah, the young flibberty-gibbets!"

In company with the Captain and Dick, as it still continued fine, allpresently sallied down to the sea, where the young holiday-makers weremuch surprised at the size of the waves, which seemed much bigger onnearer view than they had appeared from the drawing-room windows in themorning. 

Now they were so close to the waves that the spray splashed over thelittle party; and, it being high-water, the incoming tide, aided by thestiff south-easterly wind, which was still blowing half a gale, rolledthe billows in upon the shore, dashing them against the sea-wall andrampart at the back of the castle with a mighty din, and breaking theminto sheets of foam that flew over the moats and fortifications, reaching to the Common beyond--the spent water, driven back by the rockyembankment, sullenly retiring, a seething sea of soapsuds, as if DavyJones were having a grand "washing-day. "

Much as this sight pleased them, strange and wonderful to theirunaccustomed eyes, they were not allowed long to enjoy it; for, theCaptain declaring that another squall was coming, presently made themhurry back to the house, laden, however, with sea-wrack and spindrift. 

It was the same on the following day and the day after, the gale lastinguntil the close of the third; when it completed its course and died awayas suddenly as it began, winding up with a grand thunderstorm, in whichthe lightning flashed and the thunder pealed through the heavens in amanner whose like, the Captain affirmed, he had never seen on that coastbefore. 

"No, never, ma'am, " cried he, emphasising the assertion with a thump ofhis malacca cane that almost made a hole in Mrs Gilmour's best drawing-room carpet. "Not since I first joined the service at Portsmouth here, forty years ago, or more!"

Satisfied apparently with the `blow' it thus had, the weathersubsequently was all that could be desired; setting in bright and fine, while it was warm enough to be almost tropical. 

Thenceforth, therefore, there was no more confinement to the house forthe young people. 

Bob started off early every morning across the common to the beach, where, under the superintendence of the Captain, he and Dick were taughthow to swim, the boys, it may be mentioned, learning the art all themore quickly from the fact of the old sailor's telling them that "untilthey were able to keep afloat, " to use his own words, "he'd think twicebefore he would take 'em afloat!"

So, as both were anxious to go out rowing and sailing, this threat actedas a spur to their efforts. 

Nellie, too, had a bathe each day; and, much she liked bobbing up anddown in the usual girl-fashion from the end of the rope of the machine. By and by, also, when she had gained a little courage, she learnt toswim like Bob, whose boastings on the point had put her on her mettle;and the bathing-woman informed Mrs Gilmour one fine morning, when sheaccompanied Nellie to the beach and entered into conversation with herteacher, that she was "the smartest young leddy to learn as ever was. "

This fact Miss Nell at once proved by swimming there and then some fortyyards, more than double the distance Master Bob could accomplish, inspite of all his `tall talk, ' after a similar period of tuition. 

"You ladies can always beat us if you only try, " said the Captaingallantly, when he heard this. "I believe a woman can do anything shelikes. "

"You're too complimentary, I'm afraid, " remarked Mrs Gilmour. "Youdon't mean all you say. "

"Don't I, by Jove!" replied he. "Lucky for us men you do not set yourmind to it; for, if you did, no poor fellow would ever have a chance ofcommanding his own ship!"

"That's a base slander, " cried Mrs Gilmour, laughing. "I thought youwere paying us rather a doubtful compliment. "

The old sailor chuckled. 

"I had you there, ma'am, I think, eh?" said he, blinking away with muchdelight. "By Jove, I had!"

"But, when are you going to take us on the water?" asked Bob at thispoint, before his aunt could give the Captain `a Roland for his Oliver'in reply to his aspersion on her sex. "You said you would, you know, when I and Dick knew how to swim. "

"And I know how to, as well, " put in Nellie. "Don't I, auntie?"

"Don't bother me, children, " growled the Captain, pretending to get in arage. "I must be off now. I have an appointment in the Dockyard thisafternoon. "

"You shan't go! you shan't go!" cried the two together, hanging on tohim on either side. "You promised to take us somewhere or do somethingif we were good, and that was to be to-morrow. "

"To-morrow comes never!" ejaculated the old sailor, chuckling andblinking away. "`Hodie mihi, cras tibi. ' What is that, Master Bob?"

"Eh, sir?" said Bob, making a wry face. "Why, it's Latin. "

"Thank you for nothing, you young shaver!" retorted the Captain drily. "What I want to know is, what does it mean?"

Bob hesitated a bit, as if puzzled to translate the phrase; but in amoment memory came to his aid. 

"Ah yes, I recollect now, " he said in an assured voice. "It means, Ithink, `to-day it is my turn; to-morrow it will be yours. '"

"Very good, my boy, " said the Captain with a chuckle. "That's my answerto your question just now. "

"But you promised us, Captain, " cried Nellie, taking up the cudgels nowthat poor Bob was routed so ignominiously. "You know you did, sir--didn't he, auntie? And the `to-morrow' you meant was a long time back, before the storm and everything!"

"Then I'm afraid, Miss Nellie, " he replied, making for the door, so asto secure his retreat, "it must be a very stale one; a sort of `to-morrow' I wouldn't have, if I were you, at any price!"

Nellie was not to be beaten so easily, so she followed him out into thehall as he was leaving the house. 

"Do tell me, dear Captain, " she pleaded earnestly. "Do tell me whatthis wonderful something is that you have in store for us. "

"I will, my dear, " replied the old sailor, succeeding by a dexteroustwist in releasing the lapel of his coat from her restraining hand. "Iwill, my dear. I'll whisper it to you--I will tell you to-morrow!"

With this he skipped down the steps as nimbly as a two-year-old, slamming the gate behind him to secure his retreat; and Nellie couldhear his hearty "Ho-ho!" as he went along the parade towards Portsmouth. 

"What a tiresome man the Captain is!" she exclaimed petulantly, onreturning to the drawing-room, where Mrs Gilmour had remained with Bob. "It is always `to-morrow, ' and `to-morrow, ' and `to-morrow'; and whenthe `to-morrow' comes, he never tells us anything!"

"Fie, Nellie, you must not be impatient, my dear, " said her aunt, onhearing this outburst. "Recollect how kind and good-natured CaptainDresser has always shown himself, who ever since you two came down herefor your holiday, putting himself out in every way to suit yourconvenience, and never regarding anything as a trouble which couldconduce to your pleasure. I confess I am surprised at my little nieceNell speaking in such a way of so good a man. If the Captain keeps youin suspense, depend upon it his purpose is to make you enjoy the treathe has in his mind ten times more than if you knew all about itbeforehand. "

"But I hate being kept in suspense, auntie!" cried Miss Nellie rathernaughtily, tossing her head indignantly, and throwing back her goldencurls as if she were metaphorically pitching them at the offending oldsailor. "I like to know the best or worst at once. I say, Dick, hasthe Captain told you anything about the treat he has for us?"

Poor Dick, who had been thoughtfully left behind by the old sailor, onaccount of Mrs Gilmour having expressed her intention of going down tothe beach with the young people in the afternoon, hardly knew how toanswer the question. 

He did not like to tell an untruth by saying that he had no knowledge ofthe Captain's plans, nor did he wish to disoblige Miss Nell, so hisanswer was of the non-committal order--a sort of `I don't recollect' inits way. 

"I can't tell, miss, " was all he said, but, fortunately enough for him, it sufficed to throw Nellie off the scent and prevent her trying anyfurther to worm the secret out of him; although, there is no doubt, shewould have succeeded had she persevered, and Dick was on thorns untilshe went upstairs to get ready for going out, the little lady having aninsinuating manner of her own that was well-nigh irresistible. 

By the time she came below again, equipped for walking, Nellie's passingfit of ill-temper had disappeared, and she was not only her brightcheerful little self once more, but full of a project for adding to hercollection a specimen of the `sea cucumber, ' which the Captain had toldher she might find if she only hunted diligently enough. 

These strange marine animals belong to a species of `Triple Alliance' oftheir own, being connected in a greater or less degree with theanemones, the ringworms, and the `sea urchins'; albeit, the seacucumbers possess one very great advantage over these cousins of theirs, in being able, when they so please, to turn themselves inside out anddispense with their stomachs, as well as what would be considered otherequally necessary portions of their corporate frames. 

When in this transformed, or `turn-coat' stage of his existence, theanimal consists only of an empty bag, or pocket, that has at thebroadest end an apparently useless mouth, but which he still continuesto make use of for feeding purposes; and, by and by, when my gentlemanfeels disposed to return to his original state, seemingly by the mereeffort of will, his tentacles sprout out one by one, the mouth-end ofhis bag becomes surmounted by a sort of mushroom head, his interiorperson gets filled up, and the sea cucumber is himself again, "all a-taunto!"

The Captain had advised Nellie to search amongst the old wooden piles ofthe pier, as a likely situation to find these animals, and others henamed quite as curious, such as the `beroe' and the `balanus, ' whichwhile looking as if inanimate yet are `all alive, ' and, if not`kicking, ' certainly may be seen fishing, either with natural lines oftheir own or with a sort of trawl-net, very similar to which we humanbipeds use. 

But, although Miss Nellie, with Dick acting under her directions andBob, too, assisting in a desultory way when the superior attractions ofcrab-hunting on his own account did not beguile him from the pursuit, all hunted everywhere, finding every variety of young whelks, cockles, and other shell-fish ova on the pier-piles, which they were able toexamine at their pleasure, it being low tide, no sea cucumbers to beseen anywhere. 

Nellie was in despair at her failure and felt almost inclined to cry;but, Dick at the last moment, when the search was just about to be givenup, raked out a perfect specimen from a hole in the rock-work beneathone of the buttresses that was nearly awash with the water--a darksomedungeon, isolated from the vulgar herd of barnacles, and common butkindred anemones with which the stuck-up sea cucumber was too proud toassociate. 

Naturally enough, Miss Nellie was delighted with her capture, and, shetenderly bore him home in triumph to be added to her extensive marinecollection, which had now increased so considerably, that her auntdeclared laughingly that she would have to build a room especially tocontain it presently, her house not being big enough for the purpose. 

"Rubbish!" the Captain had called her first attempt at collecting, but, since then, she had learnt something under the instruction of the oldsailor and displayed greater discrimination in the objects of her zeal;although still, perhaps, inclined to err in the matter of quantity overquality, leaning fondly, as most enthusiasts do, to common things. 

Not only was the album which her aunt had given her pasted as full as itcould hold of different sorts of seaweed, known and unknown alike to Boband herself; but she had a pile of shells big enough to build a rockery. 

In addition to these, her accumulation of pet specialities included aseven-fingered starfish, which is supposed by the ignorant to bepeculiarly inimical to the adventurous cat that swalloweth it; and aring-horned pandalus or `Aesop prawn, ' which queer creature Master Bobappropriately christened `The Prawnee Chief, ' much to the annoyance ofMiss Nell, who had become quite grand now in her language, becoming`puffed up, ' as Bob said, with her newly-acquired `knowledge'--a`little' of which, as the proverb tells us, is "a dangerous thing. "

The Aesop prawn, by the way, gained the prefix to his name from having ahump on his back like the Phrygian slave, the fabulist. He is, also, distinguished by the most exquisite little rings or bands of scarlet, which seem to encircle his body; but the picturesque effect is reallyproduced by his antennae, which the pandalus has the happy knack ofarranging round his little person in the most graceful fashion. 

Beyond these rarities, precious above price, Nellie had gathered aquantity of cuttle-fish `bone, ' as it is erroneously called, sufficientto have supplied Bob and herself for a lifetime with ink-erasers--apurpose for which it is generally employed. 

The substance, however, is not really `bone, ' but is composed of thinlayers of the purest white chalk, which, when the cuttle-fish is living, is embedded in the body of the animal, running through its entirelength. 

The cuttle-fish in which this so-called bone is generally met with, isthe same species from whence the well-known colour sepia used inpainting is usually obtained. 

To make a long story short, the rest of Miss Nellie's collectionconsisted of most of the various members of the crustacean family foundalong the south coast, which she, with the help of Bob and Dick, hadpicked up promiscuously. 

"A good deal of rubbish still, my dear, " was the Captain's comment whenhe came round in the evening and Nellie showed him the latest additionsto her store; "but, you've got one or two good things. I'll tell youwhat you want, though. "

"What?" she asked excitedly. "What do we want, Captain? Hush, Bob!"

"An aquarium, " said he. "You see, my dear--"

"Why, we've got one. We've got one already, Captain!" she cried outtriumphantly, clapping her hands as she interrupted him. "Aunt Pollybought one this very morning for us. "

"That was very good of her, more than you young torments deserve, " saidthe Captain, with his customary chuckle. "However, now you've got anaquarium, you must have something to put in it. Something living, Imean. These dead and gone dried-up old chaps here are of no use;although I wouldn't be surprised if that starfish there could still tellthe number of his mess if placed in water. I'm sure he's yet alive, mydear. "

"Why!" exclaimed Nellie, astonished at this, "we've had him hanging uplike that for a week!"

"Never mind that, " replied the Captain. "Those funny, fat, seven-fingered gentlemen have a nasty habit of `shamming Abraham, ' orpretending to have `kicked the bucket' when they are all alive andhearty!"

"How funny!" said Nellie, laughing. "But, what shall we get to put intothe aquarium besides, Captain dear, crabs and little fish, like those wesee swimming about in the sea below the castle?"

"Crabs and little grandmothers!" ejaculated the Captain in greatdisgust. "A nice aquarium you would make of it, missy, if you hadn'tsome one to look after you! Why, the crabs would eat your little fishbefore a week was out and then turn round and eat you!"

"Dear me, that would be dreadful!" cried Nellie laughing still more, theCaptain did look so comical. "But, what may we have for our aquarium, if we must not have these?"

"Get? Well, let me see, " said he, blinking away furiously and movinghis bushy eyebrows up and down for a moment, as if deliberating. "We'llhave some sea-anemones, to commence with. No proper aquarium iscomplete without them; and, when you once see them expand, showing theirred and purple hues, and watch their wonderful way of moving about, youwill soon be convinced that they are really animals and not vegetables, which, as I believe I told you before, many wise people for a long timesupposed them to be! You just wait, missy, and you will find this outfor yourself and learn more about them, too, than I can tell you. "

"Oh, yes, " interposed Bob. "I saw one this morning when I was swimming, and it looked just like a big dahlia. "

"Lucky for you it wasn't a jelly-fish, or you'd have felt it as well asseen it!" rejoined the Captain grimly--"Avast there, though, we weretalking about sea-anemones and other similar fry; and I was thinkingthat the best place for us to go to get them would be--why, by Jove, it's the very thing!"

"What's the matter now?" said Mrs Gilmour, who had been reading aletter she had just received by the post, looking up at his suddenexclamation. "Dear me, Captain, is anything wrong?"

"Nothing, ma'am, nothing, " he replied, turning round to her--"only I'vethis moment thought of a way of `killing two birds with one stone. ' Ipromised these youngsters, you know, if they were good--"

"I know, I know what's coming now, " cried Miss Nell, again interruptinghim. Really she was a very rude little lady sometimes. "You're goingto tell us at last!"

"What, missy?" said the Captain chuckling, as she and Bob executed atriumphal dance round him, while Dick stood grinning in the background, his face, which had filled out considerably in the last week or two, making him look very different to the lantern-jawed lad they hadencountered in the train, all one smile. "What, missy?"

"You're going to take us out somewhere, " Bob and Nellie cried inconcert. "You promised, you know you did!"

"But, that was if you were good, " he answered, enjoying their antics. "That was the proviso, young people. "

"We _are_ good, " they shouted together. "Auntie says so. "

The Captain put his hands to his ears to shut out their voices. 

"Are they good?" he asked Mrs Gilmour. "Eh, ma'am?"

"Well, yes, I think so, " said she, smiling. "Good enough as far as suchchildren can be, I suppose! I suppose I must not tell tales out ofschool, sure, about what a little girl said the other day when somebody, whom I won't name, went away?"

"What, what?" inquired the old sailor, looking from one to the other. "Tell me what she said!"

Nellie put her hand over Mrs Gilmour's mouth. 

"Hush auntie, " she cried appealingly. "You mustn't say anything; Ididn't mean it!"

"I dare say you called me a sour old curmudgeon?" hinted the Captain, pretending to be very much grieved. "Didn't you?"

"No, I didn't, " said Nellie, jumping up and throwing her arms round hisneck to kiss him. "I think you are the dearest and kindest old Captainthat ever was!"

"Humph!" he ejaculated in a smothered voice, addressing her aunt. "There's no doubt, ma'am, where she gets the `blarney' from. It runs inthe family!"

"Sure an' small blame to her either, " retorted the other defiantly. "It's fortunate for us women that we have something wherewith to get thebetter of you hard men sometimes. "

"Sometimes, eh? always, I think, " growled the Captain, looking veryknowing and laughing the while. "But, I won't argue the point with you, ma'am--sure to get the worst of it if I do. Tell you what I'll do, thatis if it is agreeable to you. What say you to all of us crossing overto-morrow to the Island, eh?"

"Oh, auntie, how nice!" cried Nellie, hugging her and the Captainalternately. 

Bob contented himself with uttering only the single word "jolly!"

But, the ejaculation spoke volumes, Bob's highest appreciation beingever expressed by that expressive but slangy term "jolly!"

"Will it do, d'ye think?" said the Captain to Mrs Gilmour; there was noneed of his asking either of the children, their faces giving anunhesitating assent at once, as did Dick's. "Eh, ma'am?"

"Certainly, " she replied, "if it suits you. "

"Then, that's settled, " he decided. "There's a new steamer, called the_Bembridge Belle_, I've seen advertised to run on an excursion toSeaview pier; and I think she will do very well for us; especially asshe will go partly round the Island afterwards. "

"I can't say I like excursion steamers, " observed Mrs Gilmourhesitatingly; "but if you think, as an experienced sailor, that she willbe safe, of course I can have no objection. You know--I'm speaking morefor the children's sake than my own, being responsible to their parentsfor them. "

"Safe, ma'am, eh? Safe as houses!" replied the Captain, with muchenergy, stamping his foot on the floor as he spoke to give point to hisassertion, his malacca cane not being within reach at the moment. "Otherwise, ma'am, I wouldn't let you or the chickabiddies go in her forworlds!"

"You're quite sure, Captain?"

"Faith, I'll take my `davy, ' ma'am, she's as staunch and sound as theold _Bucephalus_. "

"Say no more, Captain, " said Mrs Gilmour. "If she's as safe as my poorTed's ship, she must be safe indeed, I know. "

"She is that, I believe, ma'am, on my honour. "

"All right then, Captain, " replied Mrs Gilmour to this. "We'llconsider the trip arranged, then, for to-morrow, eh?"

"Very good, ma'am, there's my hand on it, " cried the Captain, rising totake his leave. "I must say `good-night' now; for, it's getting late, and I ought to turn in early if you expect me to turn out to-morrow. Good-night, Miss Nell; good-night, Bob; come along, Dick!"

With which parting words, away he sailed homeward, not thinking that hehad forgotten his game of cribbage with his fair hostess. 

Strange to say, the old sailor never once recollected his customarydiversion throughout the evening!

CHAPTER NINE. 

A RIVAL COLLECTOR. 

Nothing could have been better than the appearances of wind and weathernext morning--that long-wished-for "to-morrow, " which had at last come, in spite of the Captain's perpetual procrastination. 

The bright sun was glowing in a clear blue sky overhead, that wasunflecked by a single cloud, while a fresh breeze blowing from thewestwards to prevent the air from becoming stagnant; and the barometer, at "set Fair, " made all prophets of evil, if such there were about, keeptheir lips tightly closed and say nothing to damp the spirits of theexpectant voyagers. 

"Hullo, Nell!" shouted Bob, drumming on the balustrade of the staircaseoutside his bedroom to attract her attention and rouse her up. "Are youawake yet?"

Nellie's answer to this question was a "staggerer" to Master Bob, as hetermed it in his choice phraseology. 

She appeared in the passage that passed her door fully dressed. 

"I got up when Sarah rose, and have been ready to go downstairs for thelast hour, " she said calmly, with a conscious pride. "You'd better looksharp with your dressing, Bob, for it is past six o'clock. Unless youstart off soon to the beach, too, for your bathe, you'll never be backin time for breakfast, which is going to be earlier this morning so thatwe may catch the steamer comfortably. "

"My good gracious!" exclaimed Bob, jamming his right foot into his leftboot in his hurry and wasting a minute or more in wriggling it outagain. "I thought I was ever so early, and up before any one!"

"Ah, me dear, " cried out Mrs Gilmour from below; "you'll have to catcha weasel asleep, sure, before you can hope, sir, to get ahead of us inthis house. I called Sarah long ere either of you were stirring!"

This was a climax; and so, without making any reply to aunt Polly'spertinent statement of fact, save a stifled laugh at the expense of MissNell, who had prided herself on having, as she thought, got the start ofthem all, Bob expediting his dressing in the most summary fashion, hurried off as speedily as possible across the common for his matutinaldip. 

He was accompanied, as a matter of course, by Rover, who was ready andwaiting for him on the terrace outside, barking and bounding about likea demented dog who had parted company with his usual stock of common-sense. 

"Down, Rover!" cried Bob, when the faithful fellow, in the exuberance ofhis joy on seeing his young master come out of the house, leaped up andlicked his face, preventing him from closing the door properly as he wasabout to do. "Behave yourself, sir!"

Rover, however, thought there were different ways of "behaving himself, "the chief in his estimation being to show his affection to those whowere kind to him, whom he loved with all the intensity of his greatcanine heart; and so, ranking obedience to orders as only second to thispotent law of his life, he frisked and jumped and playfully tousled Bobuntil he finally made him start at a swinging trot for the beach, thefrolicsome retriever galloping in advance one moment, the next stoppingin his mad career onward to give out a loud bark and wag his tail inencouragement to his master to try and catch him up, if he could!

Bob bent his steps towards the coastguard-station on the eastern side ofthe sea-wall, near the new pier, which was the regular meeting-place forhim and Dick every morning for their bathe; and here, punctually at "sixBells, " or seven o'clock, he found on the present occasion his fellow-swimmer along with the Captain. 

The latter, he could hear as he approached, was having an animateddiscussion with Hellyer, the chief boatman, on the subject of torpedoes, which Hellyer believed in, but which the Captain utterly pooh-poohed, saying that in his opinion they were of little, if any, use in navalwarfare. 

He was laying down the law with great unction when Bob came up to them. 

"Don't tell me, " he cried, "of your `whitehead' going twenty knots anhour and exploding its charge of gun-cotton under a ship's bottom; for, where and what would those on board the ship be doing all the time--standing still, I suppose, to be shot at and doing nothing in their owndefence?"

"Aye, that's true, sir, " said Hellyer; "but--"

"Remember, too, " continued the Captain, "the torpedo, even of the mostimproved type, can only keep up this speed of twenty knots for adistance of five hundred yards, within which range the boat dischargingit would have to approach before sending it off at the vessel attacked, which of course would be fool enough to let it come to such closequarters without riddling it? Oh, yes, you tell that to the marines!"Hellyer laughed. 

"You carry too many guns for me, sir, " said he good-humouredly. "Ican't stand up against you, Captain, once you tackle me fairly!"

"Too strong, eh?" rejoined the Captain, triumphant at getting the betterof his opponent. "Of course I am! Your argument, Hellyer, won't holdwater. Besides, should one of those spiteful little inventions succeedin getting near an ironclad without being seen and sunk, the torpedonets of the ship would prevent the infernal machine, as these new-fashioned fallals were called in the old days, from exploding againsther hull. I, for my part, would be quite content to stand the brunt ofa torpedo attack on board a ship fitted with protecting nets and quick-firing guns. By Jove, I'd guarantee that Jack Dresser wouldn't be theone that was licked!"

"I'd bet that same, sir, " agreed Hellyer heartily, but seeing Bob headded, "Ah, here's the young ge'man I fished out of the sea t'othernight. He doesn't look any the worse for being nigh drownded. He warn'hurt, sir, much, were he?"

"Not he, " said the Captain. "He's learnt to swim, though, since then, and the other boy, too; so, if they choose to tumble in again off theramparts and get into deep water, there won't be so much bother inhauling them out; eh, Bob?"

"No, Captain, " replied Bob, who was busy undressing; and, within a fewmoments he had plunged into the sea, and was swimming out with a bravefirm stroke in a way that fully justified the Captain's praise of hisnatatory powers, shouting out at intervals his customary war-cry--"Jolly!"

Nor was Dick far behind, although perhaps not quite so plucky inventuring beyond his depth, now that he had no especial motive as onthat memorable evening already alluded to by Hellyer the coastguardsman, for running the risk; while, as for Rover, he fairly revelled in thewater, paddling round and round Bob and Dick, thereby executing a seriesof concentric circles never dreamt of by the Egyptian mathematicianwhose problems have been the torment of the boys of all ages. 

The sea was so warm and pleasant that they stopped in such anunconscionable time as to necessitate the Captain's hailing them threetimes to come out before they obeyed the order, and even then did solothfully, making the old sailor sing out to them the moreimperatively--

"Come out, come out of that, you young rascals!" he cried, shaking hisstick menacingly. "If you are not out and dressed in five minutes, byJove I'll start without you; for, I can't keep the ladies waiting. ByJove, I will!"

This threat had the desired result of quickening the boys' movements;Dick, if the slowest in the water, being the sharper of the two ingetting into his clothes. Rover was even speedier still, having only togive himself one good shake, administering in the action a shower-bathof drops to the Captain, when, there he was all ready, with a smart newcurly black coat, glistening from his dip, as if he had just been to thehairdresser's and had a brush up for the occasion!

On the way back to Mrs Gilmour's house to breakfast, the Captain andDick being specially invited this morning, so that they might leavetogether immediately afterwards for the steamer without losing any time, the boys had great fun with Rover and the towels. 

These the retriever was always in the habit of carrying home, though Bobwould not let him have them at once, right out, to take in his mouth ashe left the beach. 

He would first show them to Rover, with a "Look here, good dog!"

Then Bob would put the bundle of towels in a hole in the shingle, orunder some big boulder, which did not improve them, by the way; Roverobserving everything his young master did with the keenest attention, barking the while, and with every hair of his mane bristling withexcitement. 

After thus hiding the towels, if it could be called hiding where everydetail of the operation was watched by the dog, Bob would, as he did onthe present occasion, set out on his return across the common; MasterRover prancing in front of him, and anxiously keeping his speaking browneyes fixed on his face, awaiting the order which he knew to be impendingfor him to go back and fetch the bundle left behind. 

It was always a struggle for Bob to keep his countenance steady, theslightest suspicion of a smile being interpreted by Rover as anintimation that he was at liberty to "go and fetch, " without a wordbeing uttered; and, this morning, the struggle was intensified by thepresence of the Captain, who was in a joking mood, and tried all hecould to draw off Rover's attention from Bob. 

However, in spite of these difficulties, the latter succeeded inrepressing any signs of emotion in his face until they got to thelandmark in the middle of the common, when, opening his mouth at last, Bob said, almost in a whisper, the magic words, "Go and fetch!"

Low as was the tone in which the command was given, Rover heard it; andthen, in an instant, off he flew, like an arrow from the bow, with hisbushy tail stretched out straight behind, bottle-brush fashion, makinghim resemble a dark-coloured fox in the distance, with the hounds infull cry after him. 

The last they saw of him was the end of his tufted tail disappearingover the sea-wall at the place where Bob had secreted the towels, so onthey went in the expectation of Rover presently overtaking the partywith the towels, which he seldom failed to do before the roadwayskirting the other side of the common was reached, the retriever beinggenerally very rapid in his movements. 

On this occasion, however, the Captain with the boys not only got as, far as the terrace, but arrived at the gate of Mrs Gilmour's house, without there being any appearance of Rover's return. 

He and the towels were alike "conspicuous by their absence. "

What could have happened?

Listening attentively, they could hear presently the sound of a dogbarking in the direction of the sea, and to Bob's mind, at least, therewas no doubt that the bark was the bark of Rover. 

"He cannot get the towels from under the stone, " cried Bob, turningback. "It is either that, or somebody has stolen them, or something. Imust go and see what's the matter. "

"We'll all come, " said the Captain. "I should like to see the affairout. "

So saying, he wheeled round too, and with Dick started off in pursuit ofBob, who, going at the run, was already some distance ahead, on hisreturn journey to the beach. 

The Captain stepped out well, however, and he and Dick got up just intime to settle a little dispute, in which Bob, Rover, and an ugly-looking man, very like a gipsy and evidently a tramp, were the partiesinterested. 

The man had one end of the bundle of towels grasped in both his hands, while Rover was holding on like grim death to the other; the doggrowling, and tugging away so violently between each growl, that thetramp had hard work to keep hold of his prize. 

Bob, on his part, had caught up a piece of broken timber, and wasadvancing to the faithful dog's aid. 

But a boy like Bob, even with the help of such a valiant protector asthe retriever, could do little or nothing against a burly, ruffianlygiant, six feet high, and broad in proportion. 

The arrival of the Captain on the scene with Dick, however, altered theaspect of affairs considerably. 

The gipsy tramp, who had sworn to Bob, and at him too, that the bundlewas his own, and that he was walking quietly along the shore in searchof work, when he was assailed by "that savage dog o' yourn there, " nowsaid, on the Captain's telling him curtly to drop the towels, or hewould have him locked up, that he had "only picked 'em up on the beach, and didn't mean no harm by it to nobody, that he didn't. "

"Then the sooner you are off out of this, the better for you, myfriend, " said the Captain, on the man's letting go the bundle of towels, which Rover at once carried off in triumph and laid at Bob's feet. "Beoff with you, you rascal, at once!" The man took his advice, andslouched away round the castle, soon disappearing from their sight;when, much excited by the unexpected little incident that they now wouldhave to detail to Mrs Gilmour and Nellie, besides being full of Rover'sbravery and sagacity, they took their way home again, for the secondtime, across the common, the clock of old Saint Thomas's church in thedistance striking as they turned their faces homeward--"One--two--three--four--five--six--seven--eight--*Nine*!"

"Look sharp, lads, or we'll be late for the steamer!" cried the oldsailor, as they hurried along, setting the example by hastening onwardsas fast as his little legs, aided by his ever-present malacca cane, could carry him. "I'm told that the _Bembridge Belle_ will leave thepier at ten o'clock without fail, wind and weather permitting, and ithas just struck nine--all through your loitering and skylarking in thewater, Master Bob and you Dick, and that long palaver we had afterwardswith your friend the towel-thief. "

On reaching the house, where breakfast was all ready awaiting theirarrival, the old Captain, while hurrying through the meal, found time tochaff Nellie about this "rival collector, " as he called the prowlingtramp when narrating all about the adventure that had detained them;telling her she would have to look to her laurels, and gather up all theodds and ends she could find, on the beach, or else this gentleman, whohad displayed such zeal that morning in trying to add to his collection, would certainly outvie hers. 

"Now, children, " said Mrs Gilmour, when breakfast and chaff had bothcome to an end, repeating the Captain's favourite word of command, "Looksharp!"

Her preparations had all been made beforehand; and without losinganother moment, she and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie behind them, started off, Dick, who had been taken care of meanwhile by Sarah in thekitchen, bringing up the rear with a substantial-looking hamper on hisshoulder. 

Almost breathless, alike from excitement and their rapid pace, they madetheir way seawards, to where the _Bembridge Belle_ was blowing off hersteam alongside the pier, sounding her whistle to tell belatedpassengers like themselves that they had better put their best footforemost if they wished to reach her in time. 

"All aboard?" inquired the captain of the steamer from his post on theport paddle-box, hailing the porter of the pier ashore, when they, thevery last of the late-comers, had scrambled across the gangway; and theporter having signified that no one now was in sight, the blue-cappedgentleman standing on the paddle-box touched the engine-room telegraph, and gave the signal to "Go ahead!"

In another minute, the fore and aft hawsers that had previously made herfast to the pier were cast-off, and her paddles began to revolve with aheavy splashing sound, like that of flails in a farmyard threshing outthe grain. 

"Starboard!" sang out her skipper, now mounting from the paddle-box tothe bridge above. "Hard over, my man!"

"Starboard it is, sir, " replied the helmsman, rapidly twirling thespokes of the wheel as he spoke. "It's right over, sir. "

"Steady!" now sang out the skipper, meaning that the vessel's head hadbeen sufficiently turned in the direction he desired. "Steady; keep herso. "

"Steady it is, sir, " repeated the man at the wheel like a parrot, toshow that the order had been understood and acted upon. "Steady it is. "

"Port a trifle now. "

"Aye, aye, sir, " returned the helmsman, reversing the wheel. "Port itis, sir; two points over. "

"Steady. "

"Steady it is. "

Whereupon, a straight course being now laid for the little port to whichthey were bound on the Isle of Wight opposite, the _Bembridge Belle_steamed ahead, splashing and dashing through the water, that rippledover with laughter in the bright sunshine, lightening up its translucentdepths, and leaving a broad silvery wake of dancing eddies behind her. 

CHAPTER TEN. 

AFLOAT--AND ASHORE. 

"Sure, I'm almost dead entirely, with all that hurrying and scurrying!"exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, when she was at length got safely on board thelittle steamer and comfortably placed on a cosy seat aft, near thewheel, to which Captain Dresser had gallantly escorted her. "Really, now, I couldn't have run another yard, if it had been to save me life!"

She panted out the words with such a racy admixture of her Irish"brogue, " which always became more "pronounced" with her when she was atall excited in any way, that the Captain, even while showing everysympathy for her distressed condition, could not help chuckling as heimitated her tone of voice and accent--much to the amusement of MasterBob and Miss Nellie, you may be sure!

"Sure, an' there's no knowin' what ye can do, now, till ye thry, ma'am!"said he. "Is there, me darlint?"

"None of your nonsense, " she replied laughing; "I won't have you makingfun of my country like that. I'm sure you're just as much an Irishmanas I am!"

This slip delighted the Captain. 

"There, ma'am, " he exclaimed exultingly, "you've been and gone and putyour foot in it now in all conscience. "

"Oh, auntie!" cried Nellie, "an _Irishman_!"

This made Mrs Gilmour see her blunder, and she cheerfully joined in thelaugh against herself. 

Bob, meanwhile, had stationed himself by the engine-room hatchway, andwas contemplating with rapt attention the almost human-like movements ofthe machinery below. 

How wonderful it all was, he thought--the up and down stroke of thepiston in and out of the cylinder, which oscillated from side to sideguided by the eccentric; with the steady systematic revolution of theshaft, borne round by the crank attached to the piston-head, all workingso smoothly, and yet with such resistless force!

The whole was a marvel to him, as indeed it is to many of us to whom amarine engine is no novelty. 

"Well, my young philosopher, " said the Captain, tapping him on theshoulder and making him take off his gaze for a moment from the sight, "do you think you understand the engines by this time, eh?"

Bob only needed the hint to speak; and out he came with a whole volleyof questions. 

"What is that thing there?" he asked, "the thing that goes round, Imean. "

"The paddle-shaft, " replied the Captain; "it turns the wheels. "

"And that other thing that goes up and down?"

"The piston-rod, " said the old sailor. "It is this which turns theshaft. "

"Then, I want to know how the piston makes the shaft turn round, when itonly goes up and down itself?"

"The `eccentric' manages to do that, although it was a puzzle for a longtime to engineers to solve the problem--not until, I believe, Fultonthought of this plan, " said the Captain; and, he then went on to explainhow, in the old beam-engine of Watt, as well as in the earliercontrivances for utilising steam-power, a fly-wheel was the meansadopted for changing the perpendicular action of the piston into acircular motion. "Of course, though, " he added, "this fly-wheel wasonly available in stationary engines for pumping and so on; but, whenthe principle of the eccentric was discovered later in the day, thepreviously uneducated young giant, `Steam, ' was then broken to harness, so to speak, being thenceforth made serviceable for dragging railway-carriages on our iron roads, and propelling ships without the aid ofsails, and against the wind even, if need be!"

"But what is steam?" was Bob's next query. "That's what I want toknow. "

This fairly bothered the Captain. 

"Steam?" he repeated, "steam, eh? humph! steam is, well let me see, steam is--steam!"

Bob exploded at this, his merriment being shared by Nellie and MrsGilmour, the latter not sorry for the old sailor's "putting his foot init" by a very similar blunder to that for which he had laughed at hershortly before; while, as for Dick, the struggles he made to hide thebroad grin which would show on his face were quite comical and evenpainful to witness. 

The Captain pretended to get into a great rage; although his twinklingeyes and suppressed chuckle testified that it was only pretence all thetime, though his passion was well simulated. 

"I don't see anything to laugh at, you young rascal, " he said to Bob. "I'm sure I've given you quite as good a definition as you would find inany of those `catechisms of common things'--catechisms of conundrums, Icall them--which boys and girls are made to learn by rote, like parrots, without really acquiring any sensible knowledge of the subjects they aresupposed to teach! I might tell you, as these works do, that `steam wasan elastic fluid generated by water when in a boiling state'; but, wouldyou be any the wiser for that piece of information, eh?"

"No, Captain, " answered Bob, still giggling, "I don't understand. "

"Or, I might tell you `steam: is only a synonym for heat, the cause ofall motion'--do you understand that?"

Bob still shook his head, trying vainly to keep from laughing. 

"Of course not, " cried the Captain triumphantly, "nor would I, either, unless I knew something more about it; and to tell you that would takeme all the day nearly. "

"Oh spare us, " said Mrs Gilmour plaintively. "Pray spare us that!"

"I will, ma'am, " he replied. "I assure you I wasn't going to do it. Some time or other, though, this young shaver shall come along with mewhen one of the new ships goes out from the dockyard for her steamtrials; and then, perhaps, he will be able to have everything explainedto him properly, without boring you or bothering me. "

"How jolly!" ejaculated Bob. "I should like that. "

"You mustn't count your chickens before they're hatched, " growled theother, turning round on him abruptly; "and, if ever I catch yousniggering again when I'm talking I'll--I'll--"

What the Captain's terrible threat was must ever remain a mystery; for, just at that moment, Nell, who had been looking over the side of thesteamer, watching the creamy foam churned-up by her paddles and rollingwith heavy undulations into the long white wake astern marking herprogress through the water, suddenly uttered an exclamation. 

"Look, look, aunt Polly!" she cried excitedly. "Oh, look!"

"What, dearie?" inquired Mrs Gilmour, bending towards her, thinking shehad dropped her glove or something into the sea. "What is it?"

"There, there!" said Nellie, pointing out some dark objects that couldbe seen tumbling about in the tideway some distance off the starboardquarter. "See those big fishes, auntie! Are they whales?"

It was the Captain's turn to laugh now. 

"Whales, eh? By Jove, you'll be the death of me, missy, by Jove, youwill, ho-ho-ho!" he chuckled, leaning on his stick for support. "Whatdoes Shakespeare say, eh? `very like a whale, ' eh? Ho-ho-ho!"

Miss Nell did not like this at all, though she did not object tolaughing at others. 

"Well, what are they?" she asked indignantly. "What are they?"

"Pigs;" replied the Captain with a grave face, but there was a slytwinkle of his left eye approaching to a wink. "Those are pigs, missy. "

"I don't believe it, " cried the young lady in a pet, putting up hershoulders in high disdain. "You're only making fun of me!"

"Hush, dearie, you mustn't be rude, " said Mrs Gilmour reprovingly; "butsure, Captain, you shouldn't make game of the child. "

"I assure you, I'm not doing so, ma'am, " he protested, chuckling thoughstill with much enjoyment. "I've only told her the simple truth. They_are_ pigs, sea-pigs if you like, commonly called porpoises. But, whales, by Jove, that's a good joke, ho-ho-ho!"

This time Nellie laughed too, the old sailor seemed to enjoy her mistakewith such gusto; and, harmony being thus restored, they all turned towatch the graceful motions of the animals that had caused thediscussion, which, swimming abreast of the vessel, were ever and anondarting across her bows and playing round her, describing the mostbeautiful curves as they dived under each other, apparently indulging ina game of leap-frog. 

The _Bembridge Belle_ was now just about midway between Southsea andSeaview, and close upon the buoy marking the spot where the old _MarieRose_, the first big ship of our embryo navy, sank in the reign of bluffKing Hal, in an action she had with a French squadron that attemptedentering the Solent with the idea of capturing the Isle of Wight. The`mounseers, ' as the Captain explained to Bob, were beaten off in thebattle and most of their vessels captured, a result owing largely to thepart played by the gallant _Marie Rose_; though, sad be it to relate, while resisting all the efforts made by the enemy to carry her by theboard, being somewhat top-heavy, "she `turned the turtle' at the verymoment when her guns were brought to bear a-starboard, to give a finalbroadside to the French admiral and settle the action, the poor thingthen incontinently sinking to the bottom, where her bones yet lie. "

"Not far-off either, " continued the Captain, "the _Royal George_ alsofoundered in the last century, with over nine hundred hands, there beinga lot of shore folk in the ship beside her crew. Her Admiral, Kempenfeldt, was also on board, and--"

"Yes, " said Mrs Gilmour, interrupting him; "and, sure, there's a prettylittle poem my favourite Cowper wrote about it which I recollect Ilearnt by heart when I was a little girl, much smaller than you, Nell. The lines began thus-- `Toll for the brave, the brave that are nomore, '--don't you remember them; I'm sure you must, Captain?"

"Can't say I do, ma'am, " he replied--"poetry isn't in my line. But, asI was saying, the _Royal George_ heeled over pretty nearly in the sameway as the other one did that I just now told you about; and, I rememberwhen I was studying at the Naval College in the Dockyard ever so manyyears ago, when I was a youngster not much older than you, Master Bob, being out at Spithead when the wreck of the vessel was blown up, toclear the fairway for navigation. I've got a ruler and a paper-knifenow at home that were carved out of pieces of her timber which I pickedup at the time. "

"How nice!" observed Mrs Gilmour. "A charming recollection, I callit!"

"Well, I don't know about that, " replied the Captain, who seemed alittle bit grumpy, and was fumbling in his pockets without apparentlybeing able to find the object of which he was in search--"myrecollection is not so good as I would like it!"

On Mrs Gilmour looking at him inquiringly, noticing the tone in whichhe spoke, the truth came out. 

"The fact is, ma'am, I've lost my snuff-box, " he said apologetically toexcuse his snappy answers. "I must have left it in my other coat athome. "

He did not give up the quest, however, but continued to dive his handson the right and left alternately into pocket after pocket; until, suddenly, the cross expression vanished from his face, being succeededby a beaming smile, followed by his customary good-humoured chuckle. 

"I've found it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, producing the missing boxfrom the usual pocket in which he kept it, where it had lain all thetime; and, taking a pinch, the Captain was himself again. "By Jove, Ithought my memory was gone!"

The porpoises all this while continued their gambols about the steamer, now ahead, now astern, now swimming abreast, one after the other, rolling, diving, and jumping out of the water sometimes in their sport. 

They seemed to be having a regular holiday of it; and, tired of leap-frog, had taken to "follow my leader" or some other game. At any rate, they did not think much of the _Bembridge Belle_, passing and repassingand going round her at intervals, as if to show their contempt of aspeed they could so readily eclipse. 

"Do you often see them here playing like this?" asked Nellie of theCaptain, who was also looking over the side. "Is that the way theyalways swim?"

"No, missy, " said he, with all his old geniality, "not often, thoughthey pay us a visit now and then in summer when so inclined. Theircoming now through Spithead is a sign that there's going to be a changeof wind. "

"Oh!" cried Nell wonderingly. "How strange!"

"Yes, my dear, " went on the old sailor, smiling as he looked down in herpuzzled face upturned to his, "I'm not joking, missy, as you think. Those fellows are regular barometers in their way; and, if you note thedirection towards which they are seen swimming when they pass a ship atsea, from that very point wind, frequently a gale, may be shortlyexpected. "

"I hope we're not going to have another storm, " said Nellie, thinking oftheir late experience. "I don't like those gales. "

"No, no, not so bad as that now, I think, " he replied, chuckling away. "There probably will be only a slight shift of wind from the westernquarter, whence it is now blowing, to the eastward, whither theporpoises are now making off for, as you can see for yourself. "

So it subsequently turned out. 

The "sea-pigs, " as the Captain had at first jocularly termed them, badegood-bye to the steamer and its passengers when they had got a littleway beyond No Man's fort, and were approaching shoal water, with animpudent flick of their flukey tails in the air as they went off, shaping a straight course out towards the Nab light-ship, as if bound upChannel. 

They had all been so occupied watching the porpoises that they had notnoticed the rapid progress the steamer had been making towards her firstport of call on the other side of the Solent; and so, almost at the samemoment that the Captain called Nellie's attention to the last movementsof the queer fish as they vanished in the distance, she shut off hersteam and sidled up to Seaview pier. 

"Who's for the shore?" cried out the skipper from his post on thepaddle-box, as soon as the vessel had made fast, and the "brow, " organgway, was shoved ashore for the passengers to land, without anyunnecessary delay. "Any ladies or gents for Seaview?"

The majority of those on board at once quitted the steamer, amongst thembeing our quintet. 

As they were stepping on to the pier, however, a slight difficulty arosein connection with one of their number. 

It was about Rover. 

"Is that your dog?" asked the collector of tickets of the

Captain, as the retriever darted ahead in a great hurry. "That yourdog, sir?"

"No, " replied the old sailor, "not exactly--why?"

"Because, if he is, he'll have to have a ticket the same as the rest, "said the man. "Dogs is half-price, like children. "

"Oh, I didn't know, " cried the Captain apologetically, as he put hishand in his pocket and paid Rover's fare, adding in a low voice to MrsGilmour, while they were ascending the steps from the landing-stage tothe pier above, "I do believe that rascal thought I meant to cheat himand smuggle the dog through without paying, the fellow looked at me sosuspiciously. "

"Perhaps he did, " replied she laughing. "You know you are a verysuspicious-looking gentleman. "

"Humph!" he chuckled. "I think Rover intended to do him, though. Hesqueezed himself past my legs very artfully!"

"He did, the naughty dog, " said Nellie, who, with Bob, had been muchamused by the little incident. "He's always doing it in London at therailway-stations whenever we go by the underground line; and papa sayshe wants to cheat the company. He comes after us sometimes, and jumpsinto the railway-carriage where we are, when we think him miles away andsafe at home! Did you ever hear of such a thing, aunt Polly?"

"No, dearie, " she answered as they all stepped out briskly along therather shaky suspension bridge connecting the pier with the shore, whichoscillated under their feet in a way that made Mrs Gilmour anxious toget off it as quickly as she could to firm ground. "Rover is a cleverfellow, sure!"

"He's a very artful dog!" observed the Captain, whereat Rover wagged histail, as if he understood what he said and appreciated thecompliment--"a very artful dog!"

Arrived on shore, presently, the children were in ecstasies at all theysaw; for, by only crossing the roadway opposite the land end of theshaky bridge, they at once found themselves within the outlyingshrubbery and brushwood of Priory Park, which the kindly proprietorfreely threw open for years to the public, without post or palinginterfering with their enjoyment, until the vandalism and vulgarity ofsome cockney excursionists, who wrought untold destruction to theproperty, led to the rescinding of this privilege!

Although touching the sea, the waters of which lapped its turf at hightide, when once within the park, it seemed to Bob and Nellie as if theywere miles away already in the heart of the country; so that, accustomedas they had been only to town life, it may be imagined how great thechange was to them in every way. 

As for runaway Dick from Guildford, who had been familiarised to rusticscenes from his earliest infancy, he could see no beauty in the variousobjects that each instant delighted the little Londoners' eyes and ears;for, like the hero of Wordsworth's verse, "the primrose by the river'sbrim" was but a primrose and nothing more to him!

To Bob and Nellie, however, the scene around, with its salient features, disclosed a new world. 

There were great, nodding, ox-eyed daisies that popped up pertly oneither side, staring at them from amidst wastes of wild hyacinths andforget-me-nots that were bluer than Nellie's witching eyes. 

Pink and white convolvulus hung in festoons across the bracken-borderedlittle winding pathways that led here and there through mazes ofshrubbery and undergrowth, under the arched wilderness of greeneryabove. 

Rippling rivulets trickling down from nowhere and wandering whithertheir erratic wills directed, their soft, murmuring voices chiming inwith the gayer carols of the birds. 

Amongst these could be distinguished the harmonious notes of some notaltogether unknown to them, the trill of the lark on high, the whistleof the blackbird in the hidden covert, the "pretty Dick" of the thrush, and the "chink, chink!" of the robin and coo of the dove, mingled withthe sweet but subdued song of the yellow-hammer and sharp staccatoaccompaniment of the untiring chaffinch; while, all the time, a colonyof asthmatic old rooks in the taller trees of the park cawed their partin the concert in a deep bass key at regular intervals, "Caw, caw, caw!"

Bob and Nellie were so delighted and unsparing of their admiration ofeverything they saw and heard, that Dick fell to wondering at thepleasure they took in things which he held of little account. 

If unappreciative, however, Dick was of some service in telling Nelliethe names of the principal wild-flowers; while he rose high in Bob'sestimation by his lore in the matter of birds' nests, of which the ex-runaway from the country, naturally, could speak as an expert. 

Touching the feathered tribe generally, he was able to tell them off ata glance, with the habits and characteristics of each, as readily as Bobcould repeat the Multiplication Table--more so, indeed, if the stricttruth be insisted on, without stretching a point!

"That be a throosh, " he would say; and, "t'other, over there's, achaffy. He ain't up to much now; but wait till he be moulted and he'llcoom out foine! I've heard tell folks in furrin' parts vallies 'emgreatly, though we in Guildford think nowt of they. I'd rayther a larkmysen, Master Bob. "

"Ah!" exclaimed Nellie, who had previously been shocked by Dick's lackof sentiment, much pleased now at this expression of a bettertaste--"you do like their singing then!"

"Lawks no, miss, " replied the unprincipled boy. "Larks is foineroasted!"

Nellie was horrified. 

"You don't mean to say, Dick, " she cried, "that--that you actually eatthem?"

"Aye, miss, " he replied, without an atom of shame, "we doos. They berare tasty birds!"

She gave him up after this, going along by herself in silence. 

"This is jolly!" exclaimed Bob presently, when, after getting a littleway within the park and ascending the rise leading up from the shore toan open plateau above, he saw a sort of fairy dell below, at the foot ofa grassy slope, the green surface of which was speckled over withdaisies and buttercups. "Come along, Nell!"

Down the tempting incline he at once raced, with Nellie and Rover at hisheels; and, diving beneath a jungle of blackberry-bushes at the bottom, matted together with ropes of ivy that had fallen from a withered oak, whose dry and sapless gnarled old trunk still stood proudly erect in themidst of the mass of luxuriant vegetation with which it was surrounded, Nellie heard him after a bit call out from the leafy enclosure in whichhe had quickly found himself--"Oh, I say, I see such a pretty fern!"

There was silence then for a moment or so, as if Bob was trying tosecure the object that had taken his fancy, the quietude being broken byhis giving vent to a prolonged "O-o-oh!"

"What's the matter?" cried Nellie, who had stopped without the briarytangle into which her brother had plunged, noticing that his accents ofdelight suddenly changed to those of pain. "Are you hurt?"

"I've scratched my face, " he said ruefully, emerging from theblackberry-brake with streaks of blood across his forehead and his noselooking as if it had been in the wars. "Some beastly thorns did it. "

"Oh!" ejaculated Nellie, in sympathy and surprise; "I'm so sorry!"

"It is `oh, ' and it hurts too!" retorted he, dabbing his face tenderlywith his pocket-handkerchief. "However, I shall get that fern I wasafter, though, in spite of all the prickles and thorns in the world!"

So saying, in he dashed again, stooping under the thorny network, andcame out ere long with a beautiful specimen of the shuttlecock fern, which elicited as expressive an "Oh" from Nellie as the sight of hisscratched face had just previously done--an "Oh" of admiration anddelight. But, as with Bob, her joyful exclamation was quickly followedby an expression of woe. 

As she stepped forward to inspect the fern more closely, she put herfoot on a rotten branch of the oak-tree, which had become broken offfrom its parent stem and lay stretched across the dell, forming a sortof frail bridge over the prickly chasm below up to the higher ground onwhich she stood. 

Alas! the decayed wood gave way under her weight, slight as that was, and Nellie, uttering a wild shriek of terror, disappeared from Bob'sastonished gaze. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

IN A SAD PLIGHT!

The Captain, who had remained on the plateau above, in company with MrsGilmour and Dick--the latter still in charge of the precious hamper--pricked up his ears at the sound of poor Nellie's scream and Bob'sexpressive cry of alarm. 

"Hullo!" he sang out in his sailor fashion-- "I wonder what's the rownow? By Jove, I thought it wouldn't be long before those two youngpersons got into mischief when we left them alone together. "

"I hope to goodness they haven't come to any harm, " said Mrs Gilmourdolefully. "Sure and will you go and say what's happened?"

"Sure an' I'm just a-going, ma'am, " replied the Captain, keeping up hisgood-humoured mimicry of her accent so as to reassure her; adding, as hescrambled down the slope cautiously with the aid of his trusty malaccacane-- "You needn't be alarmed, ma'am, `at all at all, ' for I don'tbelieve anything very serious has occurred, as children's calls forassistance generally mean nothing in the end. They are like, as yourcountryman said when he shaved his pig, `all cry and little wool!'"

He chuckled to himself as he went on down the declivity, turning roundfirst, however, to see whether Mrs Gilmour appreciated the allusion to"poor Pat"; while Dick, leaving the hamper behind, followed, in case hisassistance might also be needed in the emergency. 

Arrived at the bottom of the dell the old sailor found it impossible atfirst to tell what had happened; for, Bob was trying to force his waythrough the brushwood brake, and Rover barking madly. Nellie wasnowhere to be seen, although her voice could be heard proceeding fromsomewhere near at hand, calling for help still, but in a weaker voice. 

"Where are you?" shouted the Captain. "Sing out, can't you!"

"Here, " came the reply in the girl's faint treble; "I'm here!"

"Where's `here'?" said he, puzzled. "I can't see anything of you!"

"I've tumbled into a pit, " cried Nellie piteously, in muffled tones thatsounded as if coming from underground. "Do take me out, please!There's a lot of wild animals here, and they're biting my legs--oh!"

A series of piercing shrieks followed, showing that the poor child wasterribly alarmed, if not seriously hurt; and the Captain saw that notime was to be lost. 

"Can you reach her, Bob?" he sang out; "or see her, eh?"

"No, I can't get through these prickly bushes, they're just like awall!" replied Bob, fighting manfully through to get down to hissister's relief. "I can't see her a bit, either!"

"Humph!"

The Captain thought a moment, rather shirking going amongst the thorns. 

"Ha, the very thing!" he exclaimed. "Hi, Rover!"

The dog, who had been barking and running here and there aimlessly, atonce cocked his ears and came up to the Captain, scanning his face witheager attention. 

"Fetch her out, good dog!" he cried, pointing to the spot where thebroken branch of the oak-tree had given way, adding in a louder voice, "Call him, Nellie--call the dog to you, missy. "

A cry, "Here, Rover!" came from underneath the tangled mass ofbrushwood, borne down and partly torn away by Nellie in her fall to thedepths below. "Come here, sir!"

No sooner did he hear this summons, faint though it was, from his youngmistress, than any uncertainty which may have obscured his mind as towhat the Captain meant by telling him to "fetch her out, " at oncedisappeared; and Rover, uttering a short, sharp, expressive bark, toshow that he now understood what was expected of him, boldly plungedinto the thicket with a bound. 

"Chuck, chuck, chuck! Whir-r-r-ur, " and a blackbird flew out, dashingin the Captain's face; while, at the same time, another piercing screechcame from Nellie-- "Ah-h-ah! Help!"

The old sailor was so startled that he jumped back, his hat tumbling offinto a bramble-bush. 

"Zounds!" he exclaimed. "What the dickens is that?"

In a moment, however, he recovered himself. 

"Pooh, what a fool I am!" he said, ashamed of the slight weakness he haddisplayed, and hoping neither of the boys had noticed it; and then, toshow how cool and collected he was, he whistled up the retriever. "Whee-ee-up, Rover, fetch her out, good dog!"

Rover did not need this adjuration, not he. 

Even as the Captain spoke, there was a rustling and tramping in thethicket, accompanied by the snapping of twigs; and, almost at the sameinstant, the dog dashed out from amidst the brushwood with Nellieholding on to his tail. 

"Oh my!" ejaculated Dick, rushing to her side; and, with the assistanceof Bob, who also emerged from the prickly cavern at the same time, shewas got on her feet-- "Poor Nell!"

She presented a sorry spectacle. 

Never was such a piteous plight seen!

Her face was scratched by the thorns, her clothes torn, and her hat hadfallen off like that of the Captain, who had, by the way, in the flurryforgotten to replace his on his head, the venerable article remaining ina sadly battered condition where it had fallen. 

On being released, however, from her predicament, Nellie treated thematter much more lightly than might have been expected. 

She was a very courageous little girl now that she knew she was insafety. 

But she was also, it should be said, blest, too, with great amiability. 

"Oh, never mind the scratches, " she replied, in answer to the Captain'sinquiries. "I'm not at all hurt, thank you. "

"How about those wild animals?" asked the old sailor smiling, "eh, missy?"

Nellie coloured up, but could not help laughing at the Captain'squizzical face, as he took up his hat gingerly and put it on. 

"I--I made a mistake, " she stammered. "I was frightened!"

At that moment, however, very opportunely, Master Rover, who had dartedback into the thicket after reclaiming his young mistress, saved her allfurther explanation as to the unknown beasts that had caused her suchalarm by appearing now in full pursuit of an unfortunate rabbit which, putting forth its best speed, escaped him in the very nick of time bydiving into a hole on the other side of the knoll, contemptuouslykicking up its heels as it did so, almost into his open mouth. 

The mystery of Nellie's disappearance was thus satisfactorily solved. 

She had fallen into an old rabbit-burrow. 

The harmless little creatures, whom she had imagined to be makingdesperate assaults on her legs and about to eat her up, too, wereprobably even more frightened than she was!

"Oh--oh, that's one of those ferocious wild animals, little missy, eh?"chuckled the Captain. "I see, young lady. "

"Yes, but they frightened me, " pleaded poor Nell. "They moved aboutunder my feet, jumping up at me, I thought; and it was so dark downthere that I didn't know what they might be. You would have beenfrightened too, I think, sir!"

She added this little retort to her explanation with some considerablespirit, a bit nettled by the Captain's chaff. 

"Well, well, my dear, perhaps you are right, " he replied good-humouredly. "I also have a confession to make, missy. Just beforeRover cantered up, with you holding on to his tail like Mazeppa lashedto the back of the fiery untamed steed of the desert, a blackbird flewout of your blackberry thicket, brushing past my face, and do you knowit startled me so that I jumped back, losing my hat. So, you see, I gota fright too!"

"I see'd yer, sir, " said Dick, the Captain looking round as if awaitingcomment on his action. "I see'd yer done it!"

"And so did I, " cried Bob, the appearance of whose face had not beenimproved by his struggles with the thorny bushes as he tried to forcehis way through them to Nellie's rescue. "I saw you too!"

"You young rascals!" exclaimed the Captain, shaking his stick at them. "I thought you were looking at me! I suppose you'll be going andtelling everybody you saw the old sailor in a terrible funk, and that Iwas going to faint?"

"Sure and that's what I feel like doing!" cried Mrs Gilmour in a verywoebegone voice, she having only just succeeded in arriving at the sceneof action, scrambling down with some difficulty from the top of theslope, the pathway being blocked at intervals by the struggling creeperswhich twined and interlaced themselves with the undergrowth, trailingdown from the branches of the trees above, and making it puzzling toknow which way to go. "I couldn't crawl a step further. What withscurrying to catch that dreadful steamboat, and then my fright ofhearing the children scream, and now having to clamber down thismountain, I'm ready to drop!"

"Don't, ma'am, please, " said the Captain imploringly; "you'll be sorryfor it if you do. The ground is full of rabbit-burrows, and there are alot of nettles about. "

"Good gracious!" she exclaimed, looking round her in the greatest alarm, and drawing in the skirts of her dress. "Whatever made you bring mehere then, Captain Dresser?"

"Well, ma'am, " began the Captain; but Mrs Gilmour, who at that momentfirst caught sight of Nellie's face, interrupted him before he could getin a word further than, "you see--"

"Oh, my dearie!" cried she, in a higher key, forgetting at once all herown troubles; and, rushing up to Nell with the utmost solicitude, shehugged her first and then inspected her carefully, "what have you doneto your poor dear face?"

"Oh, it's not much, auntie, " said Nellie, just then busy arranging herdress. "I have only got a scratch or two. "

"And your clothes too, " continued Mrs Gilmour, her consternationincreasing at the sight of the damage done. "Why, your frock is torn toshreds!"

"Not so bad as that, auntie, " laughed the girl, but with a look ofdismay on her face the while. "It is rather bad though. "

"Bad, " repeated her aunt, "sure, it's scandalous! And, say yourbrother, now--whatever have you both been about? His poor face is allbleeding, too!"

"Now, don't you make matters worse than they are, " interposed theCaptain. "A little water will soon set them both right. "

"And where shall we get water here?" she asked. "Tell me that!"

His answer came quick enough, the Captain being seldom "taken aback. "

"You forget, ma'am, the little rivulet we passed on our way. Dick, " headded, "run and fetch some for us, like a good lad. "

Nell had brought with her from home a little tin bucket, which sheusually took down to the shore for collecting sea-anemones and otherspecimens for her aquarium; so, catching hold of this, Dick started offin the direction of the tiny brook they had crossed some little timebefore, returning anon with the bucket brimming full. 

Miss Nell and Bob thereupon set to work in high glee at their extemporeablutions; and, when they had subsequently dried their faces in theirpocket-handkerchiefs, both presented a much improved appearance. 

With the exception of a few scratches, they bore little traces of thefray, the blood-stains, which looked at first sight so very dreadful, having vanished on the application of the cold water, as the Captain hadprophesied. 

"There, ma'am, " cried he now exultingly; pointing this out to MrsGilmour, "I told you so, didn't I? `all cry and little wool, ' eh, ho, ho, ho!"

"That may be, " retorted she; "but, water won't mend Nellie's dress. "

"Well then, ma'am, I will, " replied the Captain. "You'll always find asailor something of a tailor, if he's worth his salt!"

He laughed when he said this, and his imperturbable good-humour banishedthe last vestige of Mrs Gilmour's vexation at the children's plight. 

"Sure, and you shan't do anything of the sort, " she said smiling. "I'llrun up Nell's tatters meesilf!" As she spoke she produced from herpocket--a handy little "housewife, " containing needles and thread, aswell as a thimble, which useful articles the good lady seldom stirredout without; and, sitting down on a shawl which the Captain spread overa bit of turf that he assured her was free from nettles, and ten yardsat least from the nearest rabbit-burrow, she proceeded to sew away at abrisk rate on the torn frock of Miss Nellie, who sat herself demurelybeside her aunt. 

"Will you be long?" inquired the old sailor, after watching her busyfingers some little time, getting slightly fidgety. "Eh, ma'am?"

"I should think it will be quite an hour before I shall be able to makethe child decent, " she replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Humph!" ejaculated the Captain, as he always did when cogitating someknotty point, "I'll tell you, ma'am. If it's agreeable to you, ma'am, the boys and I might go on to Brading and see the remains of that Romanvilla I was talking about yesterday. That is, unless you would like usto wait till you've done your patchwork there, and all of us gotogether, eh?"

"No, I wouldn't hear of such a thing, " answered Mrs Gilmour, looking upbut not pausing for an instant in her task. "I wouldn't walk a mile tosee Julius Caesar himself, instead of his old villa, or whatever youcall it. "

The Captain appeared greatly amused at this. 

"I'm not certain that the place ever belonged to that distinguishedgentleman, " he said. "It is supposed, I believe, to have been theresidence of a certain Vespasian, who was governor of the Isle of Wightsome period after its conquest by the Romans; but how far this is true, ma'am, I can't vouch for personally, never having as yet, indeed, seenthe spot. "

"But, I assure you, I've no curiosity to go. I feel much too tired, andwould rather sit comfortably here. Would you like, Nell, to go with theCaptain and Bob?"

"No, auntie, I'd prefer stopping with you. I want to get some ferns andlots of things after you've mended my dress for me, " replied Alice. "Ilike flowers better than old ruins. "

She said this quite cheerfully, as if she didn't mind a bit not goingwith the boys. 

This surprised the Captain somewhat, for he thought she would not likebeing left behind, and would have looked at all events a trifle cross. 

But, seeing how she took the matter, the old sailor's mind was immenselyrelieved. 

"Well then, " he cried smiling, with his eyes blinking and winking away, "the sooner we're off, why the sooner we'll be back. Hullo, though, I've forgotten the hamper! Run up, Dick, and fetch it down here. "

Off scampered the lad, coming back quickly with the hamper, which heplaced carefully by Mrs Gilmour's side. 

"There ma'am, " said Captain Dresser, "you can look after the luncheonwhile we're away. Come along, boys--hi, Rover!"

"Oh, please leave him behind, " implored Nellie. "We want him. "

"What, who?" asked the Captain. "Dick or the dog?"

"Rover, " replied Nellie promptly. "He'll protect us in your absence incase anything happens. "

"What's that, eh!" quizzed the old sailor. "I suppose you're thinkingagain of those ferocious wild animals you encountered awhile ago, eh, missy?"

"It's a shame, auntie, for the Captain to tease me so!" exclaimedNellie, as the chaffy old gentleman went off chuckling, followed byMaster Bob and Dick, the three soon disappearing amidst the greenery. "Never mind, though, I have got you, my good doggie; and I shan't forgethow you came to my help, nor how glad I was to catch hold of your poortail, you dear Rover, when you dragged me out of that horrid hole!"

"Be aisy, me dearie, " remonstrated Mrs Gilmour, as Nell reached over tohug Rover in a sudden caress of affection, and caused by the suddenmovement a breakage of the thread, thus interrupting her aunt'shandiwork. "Sure, if you go wriggling about like an eel with that dog, I shall never get your frock mended!"

"All right, auntie, I beg your pardon. I'll be very good now, andpromise not to move again till you tell me to. "

So saying, Miss Nell resumed her former position, and, making Rover liedown at her feet, remained "as quiet as a mouse, " as her auntacknowledged, until the latter had completed her task of gathering upthe rents in the damaged garment that the envious blackberry-thorns hadmade. 

CHAPTER TWELVE. 

"THE DEVIL'S BIT. "

"Now, me dearie, " said Mrs Gilmour, replacing her needle and thimble, with the reel of thread, in her little "housewife, " and putting thatcarefully back into her pocket, "sure, we'll have a jollification on ourown account as our gentlemen have left us. We'll show them that we cando without them, sure, when we like. "

"How nice, auntie!" cried Miss Nellie, agreeing thoroughly in thesentiment her aunt had expressed, the desertion of the Captain and Bob, in addition to the fact of Dick having been also taken away, havingaffected the young lady more than she had acknowledged. "What shall wedo first to be `jolly, ' as Bob says?"

"I'll soon show you, me dearie, " replied Mrs Gilmour. "Sure, you'llsay in a minute, Nell. Come now, me darlint, and help me. "

Then ensued a pleasant task, one in which Rover especially evinced thekeenest interest, the sagacious retriever watching their every movementwith an attention that never faltered. 

Needless almost to say, the agreeable occupation in question was that ofunpacking the hamper containing all the good things which Sarah hadpacked and Dick had brought from the house for their picnic in thewoods. 

Aye, it was in the woods; and under the woods, too!

Encircled by a hedge of green shrubbery and thicket undergrowth, amidstwhich the wild-flowers of the forest stood out here and there, theirbrightest tints gleaming with a wealth of colouring which nature's gemsalone display, Mrs Gilmour selected a nice smooth stretch of velvetyturf for their table. 

On this, she proceeded to lay a damask cloth, whose snowy whitenesscontrasted vividly with its surroundings; for, a clump of silver birchesjoined in hand-clasp with a straggling oak overhead, sheltering thegrass-plot with their welcome shade from the heat of the noonday sun, while, over all, a lofty spreading elm extended its sturdy branches, like outstretched arms, above its lesser brethren below, as if sayingpaternally, "Bless you, my children!"

Having daintily arranged the contends of the hamper to the bestadvantage on the open-air banqueting-table, an enormous veal-and-hampie, their chief dish, in the centre, Mrs Gilmour and Nellie surveyedtheir handiwork with much complacency. 

"Sure, and I don't think a single thing has been forgotten, " observedthe former with pardonable pride, after a critical inspection of thevarious viands. "At most of the picnics I have participated in, eitherthe salt, or the mustard, or something else has been left behind; but, to-day, I believe Sarah has remembered everything!"

"Yes, I'm sure she has, auntie dear!" cried Miss Nellie with equalenthusiasm. "Here's the kettle for us to boil; and the teapot, andteacups, too, all ready for our tea, auntie, after lunch. "

"She is a good girl, Sarah, and I will reward her for this, " said MrsGilmour, giving a final pat to the table-cloth after smoothing it downand pulling the corners straight. "I'm afraid, though, dearie, we'llhave to wait a precious long time before Captain Dresser and the boyscome back; and, laying the table has made me feel quite hungry, Ideclare. "

"So am I, auntie, " laughed Nell. "The sight of all the nice things istoo much. Let us go away and pick some wild-flowers till the otherscome back, eh, auntie?"

"But, how can we leave the things here?" questioned the other. "Supposesome stranger, passing by, should take a fancy to our nice luncheon?What a terrible thing it would be to come back and find it gone! Again, too, just think, your friends the rabbits, dearie, might take it intotheir comical little heads to play at hide-and-seek amongst the dishes, besides nibbling what they liked. How would you like that, eh?"

"Oh, auntie, how funny you are!" cried Nell, quite overcome at the ideaof the bunnies making a playground of their well-arranged table-cloth. "But you can trust Rover to guard everything safely if we go away. "

"Are you sure, dearie?" inquired her aunt. "Quite sure?"

"Certain, auntie, dear, nobody would dare to come near the spot whilehe's here, for he'd pretty soon bark, and bite, too! And, as for thepoor rabbits, one sniff of his would send them all scuttling back intotheir burrows. Hi, Rover!" Nell called out, after giving thistestimony on his behalf. "Lie down there, good dog, and watch!"

Rover at once cocked an eye and looked in his young mistress's face. Next, he took note of her pointed finger, which she waved in a sort ofcomprehensive curve embracing the table-cloth with its appetisingdisplay of eatables; and then, as if he had made a mental list of allleft in his charge, he laid down in a couchant position at the head ofthe table, if such it could be called, with his nose between his paws, along which his eyes were ready to take aim at any intruder, saying, intheir fixed basilisk stare, "Now, you just touch anything, if you dare, my friend. I should like to see you attempt it!"

"We can safely leave now, auntie, " said Nellie; whereupon she and MrsGilmour strayed off through the bracken, hunting here and there forflowers on their way. 

Almost the first thing to catch their sight, before indeed they had leftthe little turfy dell where their paraphernalia was spread out withRover in charge, was the pretty rose-coloured blossom of the "raggedRobin, " rising out of the grass. A little further off was a cluster ofthe lilac field madder, named after Sherard the eminent botanist, whoseherbarium is still preserved at Oxford. This plant is one of a largefamily, numbering over two thousand varieties, from which the well-knowndye, madder, is obtained, though, of late years, aniline colouringmatter has somewhat depreciated its commercial value. 

Mrs Gilmour presently picked up something better than either of these, at least in appearance. This was a little blue flower resembling theviolet, with glossy green leaves that were its especial charm. 

"I declare I've found a periwinkle!" she cried--"such a fine one too. "

"Oh, let me look, auntie!" said Nell, peeping into her hand. "Dear me, do you call that a periwinkle?"

"Yes, dearie. Pretty, isn't it? It blooms all the year; and I've seenit down in Devonshire covering a space of nearly half an acre with itsleaves and blossoms. One of the poets, not Cowper my favourite, thoughone equally fond of the world of nature, describes the flower verynicely. `See, ' he says--

 "`Where the sky-blue Periwinkle climbs E'en to the cottage eaves, and hides the wall And dairy lattice, with a thousand eyes!'"

"What pretty lines, auntie, so very like the flower!" cried Nell whenMrs Gilmour finished the quotation. "But, do you know, auntie, Ithought when you said you'd found a periwinkle, you meant one to eat, like those periwinkles I've got in the aquarium you gave me. "

"Did you really, though, dearie?" said her aunt, smiling at her verynatural mistake. "It is because you feel hungry, I suppose. You mayeat this one if you like!"

"No, no, auntie, " laughed Nellie, "I'm not quite so hungry as that!But, oh, auntie, here are some of those lovely big daisies we saw whenwe first came in the park. "

"Those are the daisies that are called the `ox-eye' or moon daisy, mydear, " explained Mrs Gilmour. "You might call them the first cousins--though only, mind you, a sort of poor relation--of the choice margueritedaisy that gardeners cultivate and think so highly of. Here, too, dearie, I see another old friend of mine, whose petals fall just likesnow-flakes on the grass. "

"It is almost like the honeysuckle, " cried Nellie. "How sweet itsmells!"

"Like its name, dearie, " replied the other. "It is called the `meadow-sweet'; and a delicious perfume can be extracted from it by infusion inboiling water. The roots of the plant are long tubers, which, whenground to powder and dried, may be used as a substitute for flour, should you have any scarcity of that article!"

"I'd rather have the real sort of flour, though, auntie. "

"So would I, too, dearie, " agreed Mrs Gilmour. "I only told you incase you may be thrown on a desert island some day, when the informationmight be of use in the event of your being without bread. "

"But, supposing there was no meadow-sweet there either, auntie?"

"Sure that would be a bad look-out, " said Mrs Gilmour, joining inNell's laugh. "I think we'd better wait till you get to the desertisland!"

Wandering along, they plucked at their will masses of the wildconvolvulus, or "great bindweed, " whose white blossoms, while theylasted, added much to the general effect of the bouquet Nellie wasmaking up with her busy fingers from the spoils of coppice and sward. 

These, in addition to the flowers they had just picked, now comprisedmany other natives of the wood and hedgerow, such as the purple bugloss, the yellow iris, the star thistle, the common mallow; and, a convolvuluswhich was brilliantly pink, in contrast to his white brother before-mentioned. Besides these, Nellie had also gathered some sprays of the"toad flax" and "blue succory, " a relative of the "endive" tribe, whichproduces the chicory-root so much consumed in England, as in France, asa "substitute" for coffee. A splendid sprig of yellow broom and dearlittle bunch of hare-bells, the "blue Bells of Scotland, " with two orthree scarlet poppies, a wreath of the aromatic ground ivy and somefern-leaves for foliage, completed her floral collection. 

Stopping beneath a group of trees further on, to listen to the song of athrush, which was so full of melody that they approached him quite closewithout his noticing them, Nell and her aunt were amused by seeing tworooks quarrelling over a worm which they had both got hold of at thesame time, one at either end gripping the unfortunate creature; andgobbling, and tugging, and cawing, at once!

One of these rooks had a white head, which he seemed to cock on one sidein a strangely familiar way to Nell. 

"He's just like the Captain!" she exclaimed, tittering at the fanciedresemblance. "Look, auntie, why he actually seems to wink!"

"I declare I'll tell him!" said Mrs Gilmour, enjoying the joke none theless at the fancied resemblance. "Sure he'd be hoighly delighted. "

Then, as they wound round back to the dell through the dense shrubbery, they re-crossed the little rivulet which they had twice passed overbefore. 

On the banks of this, although it was too small almost to have "banks, "properly speaking, Mrs Gilmour pointed out to Nell the "great waterplantain, " with its sprigs of little lilac blossoms and beautiful greenleaves, like those of the lily of the valley somewhat. The plant issaid to be used in Russia as a cure for hydrophobia, the good ladyexplained; though she added that she could not vouch personally for itsvirtues. 

Not far from this, too, they found another very curious plant, called insome places the "cuckoo pint, " and in others the "wake robin, " or, morecommonly, "lords and ladies. " The leaves of this are of a glossy dark-green and the flower very like the leaf; only, more curved and tintedinside, with a hue of pale buff that becomes pinkish at the extremities, the centre pistil being of the same colour. It belongs to the arumfamily. 

Following the course of the brook, Nellie, a little way on, spied out aregular bed of the forget-me-not; when Mrs Gilmour told her the oldlegend connected with the flower. 

How a knight and a lady were sitting by the side of a river; and, on thelady expressing a desire to have some of the bright blue blossoms "tobraid in her bonny brown hair, " the gallant knight at once dashed in thestream to gratify her wishes. He secured a bunch of the flowers; but, on turning to regain the shore, the current overcame him; and, as theold song goes--

 "Then the blossoms blue to the bank he threw, Ere he sunk in the eddying tide; And `Lady, I'm gone, thine own love true, Forget-me-not, ' he cried. 

 "The farewell pledge the lady caught; And hence, as legends say, The flower's a sign to awaken thoughts Of friends who are far away!"

"How nice!" cried Nellie-- "How very nice!"

"Not for the poor knight, though, " said her aunt. "However, here, dearie, is another plant not quite so romantic, the old brown scabious, or `turf-weed. ' It is a great favourite with bees, while its roots aresupposed to have valuable medicinal properties, which the country peoplewell know and estimate at their right worth. In some places they callit the `Devil's bit'!"

"How funny!" interposed Nellie. "Why do they give it such a strangename?"

"Yes, it is rather a strange title; but I read once somewhere that thestory about it is, that the Spirit of Evil, envying the good which thisherb might do to mankind, bit away part of it and thence came its name, `Devil's bit. '"

"Really, auntie, " said Nell. "Does it look as if it had been bitten?"

"Yes, the root does, " she replied. "But, come, dearie, we must get backnow as fast as we can, or Captain Dresser and the boys will be therebefore us and eat up all the luncheon!"

Without stopping to look at any more flowers or curious plants, theyretraced their steps towards the dell, Nellie humming the last line ofthe song of the forget-me-not, which she was trying to learn by heart--"Of friends who are far away! Of friends who are far away"--when, suddenly, they heard Rover's bark ringing through the woods, its echoesloud and resonant, like the sound of a deep-toned bell. 

"Come on, dearie, " called out Mrs Gilmour, who was in advance, quickening her pace as she spoke, "come on quick, dearie! There's someone making off with our lunch; and, just think how hungry we are!"

"Don't fear, auntie, " said Nell reassuringly behind her; "Rover will notlet any one touch it, you may be certain!"

Nevertheless, she hurried after Mrs Gilmour; and both arrived together, well-nigh breathless, at the spot where they had left their feast sonicely laid out. 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 

A PICNIC UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 

They need not have been alarmed. 

Indeed, had she but given herself time for reflection, Nellie must haveknown this without any further assurance than the faithful Rover's bark, which would have been of quite a different tone had any stranger orsuspicious person invaded the spot he was left to guard. 

In such case, the good dog would have growled in the most unmistakablemanner, besides giving warning of there being danger ahead by adifferent intonation of his expressive voice. 

He did not growl now, however, although he who had invaded the sacredpicnic ground where their provender was so lavishly displayed was, inone sense, a stranger, being not one of the original members of thefestive party who had set out from "The Moorings. "

The reason for this was that the new-comer, really, was not a real"stranger" in the sense of the word. The intruder was, in fact, Hellyer, the coastguardsman, whom Rover had seen only so recently asthat very morning, when of course master doggie had accompanied Bob tothe beach for his bathe; and so, naturally, there was every reason forhis receiving Hellyer in a friendly manner. Hence, his bark, alarmingthough it might have sounded at the first go off to Nell and her aunt, was found now to have been a bark of recognition and joy and not one ofwarning. 

Mrs Gilmour felt such a sensation of relief at the sight of Hellyerthat her feelings prevented her from speaking. As she told Nellafterwards, she "couldn't have uttered a word to save her life"; andthere she remained, "staring at the poor man, " to use her ownexpression, and one that savoured thoroughly of her country, "as if hewere a stuck pig!"

Hellyer, however, did not remain dumb. 

"Beg pardon, mum, " said he respectfully, doffing his sailor hat andtouching his forehead with his forefinger in nautical salute; "but, 'aveyou seen the Cap'en anywheres about here, mum?"

"You mean Captain Dresser, I suppose?" replied Mrs Gilmour, recoveringher loss of speech at the sound of his voice, at least so it seemed; thegood lady answering the coastguardsman's question in her usual way, byasking him another!--"Eh, what, my man?"

"Yes, mum. I've a message for him from our commander, mum; and theytold me at the house as how he were over at Seaview, so, mum, I comesacross by the next boat. "

"Well, he isn't very far-off, Hellyer, " said Mrs Gilmour smiling; "Ididn't recognise you at first, sure, I was in such a terrible fright onhearing the dog bark, least somebody was making off with our luncheon. I'm really glad it's only you. "

"And I'm glad, too, mum. "

"So glad you're glad I'm glad!" whispered Nellie to her aunt, quotingsomething she had seen in an old volume of _Punch_, and going into fitsof laughter. "Eh, auntie?"

"Hush, my dear, " said Mrs Gilmour reprovingly, but obliged to laugh tooin spite of herself, although she tried to hide it for fear Hellyerwould think they were making fun of him; and she turned to him to say, "We expect the Captain, Hellyer, every minute. Why, here he is!"

There he was, most decidedly; and he soon made his presence known. 

"Hullo, you good people!" he shouted, while yet some little distanceoff, as he made his way down the slope followed by Bob and Dick, "I hopeyou've got something for us to eat, for we're all as hungry as hunters. "

"Come on, " answered Mrs Gilmour, "everything is ready, and Nell and Iare only waiting for you loiterers to begin. "

"Loiterers, indeed!" retorted the Captain good-humouredly, as he hobbledalong with some difficulty by the aid of his stick down the uneven path, "you would loiter too if you had my poor legs to walk with! Never mind, though, here we are at last; and, I tell you what, ma'am, that table-cloth there and the good things you've got on it is the prettiest sightI've seen to-day. "

"What!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "Prettier than the Roman villa?"

"Hang the Roman villa! I beg your pardon, ma'am, but the word slippedout unawares. "

After this apology for his somewhat strong expression, the old sailorwas proceeding to give the reason for his condemnation of thearchaeological remains he and the boys had been to see, when he noticedHellyer standing by in an attitude of attention. 

"Why, man, " he cried, "what brings you here?"

"I've got a letter for you, sir, " replied Hellyer, handing an envelopeover to him, and saluting him in the same way as he had done MrsGilmour just before. "Here it is, sir!"

"Humph!" ejaculated Captain. Dresser, opening the missive and runninghis eyes over the contents. "Here's some good news for you, MasterBob. "

"Oh?" said the latter expectantly. "Good news, Captain?"

"Yes, " went on the old sailor, "my friend, Commander Sponson, of theCoastguard, writes to me to say that one of the new ironclads is goingout of harbour next week on her trial trip; and, if you like, you shallhave a chance of seeing what sort of vessel a modern ship of war is. "

"Oh thank you, Captain Dresser, that will be jolly!" said Bob, his facecolouring up with pleasure. "But, will she fire her guns and all?"

"Certainly, " answered the other, "big guns, little guns, torpedo-tubes, and the whole of her armoury! Besides, my boy, you'll be able to seeher machinery at work, as she will try her speed on the measured mile;and then you can ask one of the engineers all those puzzling questionsyou bothered my old brains with when we were on board the steamer thismorning. "

"That will be jolly, " repeated Bob; "and--"

"There, there, " cried the Captain, interrupting him, "I won't sayanother word now, I'm much too famished to talk. Mrs Gilmour, whathave you got for a poor hungry creature to eat, eh, ma'am?"

"Anything you like, " she responded with a smile. "Pray sit down andbegin. "

"I will, " said he, seating himself with alacrity; and turning to thecoastguardsman, he added-- "I suppose, Hellyer, you could pick a bittoo, eh?"

"Yes, sir, saving your presence. But, only after you and the ladies, sir, " was Hellyer's respectful reply; and then, with all the training ofan experienced servant, knowledge he had gained in the exercise of hismanifold duties during several years' service as the Captain's coxswain, he proceeded to assist Dick in waiting, with an "If you'll allow me, sir. "

"Some bread, please, " called out the Captain presently. "Any your side, Hellyer?"

Hellyer and Dick both looked about the table, seeking in vain for therequired article. 

"I can't see none, sit, " said the ex-coxswain deprecatingly, giving upthe quest after a bit in despair. He seemed, from the way in which hespoke, as if he thought it was his fault that the bread was missing. "There ain't any this side, sir. "

Dick's search too was equally fruitless. 

"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, all anxiety. "Look in the hamperagain. Sure, we must have forgotten to take it out. "

But there also, alas! no bread was to be found. 

The Captain could not help laughing at Mrs Gilmour's face of dismay;while Nellie clapped her hands in high glee. 

"Oh, auntie, " she cried, "I thought you said just now when we werespreading the cloth that nothing had been forgotten, and how good Sarahwas to think of everything. Oh, auntie!"

"Oh, auntie!" chorussed Bob, joining in the general laugh. "Fancyforgetting the bread!"

"Aye, to leave out the staff of life, of all things!" put in theCaptain, having his say. "I hope `the good Sarah' has not remimbered toforgit anything more importint, sure!"

"I won't have you mimicking me, " expostulated Mrs Gilmour, although shetook their joking in very good part. "Sure, mistakes will happensometimes, and there are biscuits if you can't have bread. "

"All right, all right, " said the Captain soothingly, "I dare say we'llget along very well as we are. Don't worry any more about the matter, ma'am. We've got your excellent piecrust, at any rate, and that's quitegood enough for me. "

He chuckled still, though, for some time; and he chuckled morepresently, when something else, quite as important as the bread, wasdiscovered also to be missing. 

The discovery came about in this wise. Before sitting down with theothers, Bob had rigged up in gipsy fashion, on three forked sticks, alittle brass kettle, which he had specially asked his aunt to have putwith the other picnic things, in order to carry out thoroughly the ideaof "camping out" as he had read about it in books; and, besides slingingthe kettle artistically in the way described, he also filled it withwater from a stone jar which they had brought with them, as a precautionin the event of their not being able to get any of drinkable qualitywhere they intended making a halt, Mrs Gilmour expressing some littlerepugnance to his taking any out of the brook, although they had beenglad enough previously to use it for washing their scratched faces. Shesaid it had too many dead leaves and live creatures in it for her taste. 

Under the filled kettle, too, Bob had lit a fire, for which Nell andDick collected the sticks; and, long before luncheon was done, this wasblazing up quite briskly, and the kettle singing away at a fine rate. 

By and by, when the Captain declared he couldn't eat another morsel, andBob and Nellie also had had enough, Mrs Gilmour heaped up a couple ofplates with the remains of the veal-and-ham pie for Hellyer and Dick, who had all this time been busily employed ministering to their variouswants, and now retired some little distance off to enjoy their well-earned meal. 

Then came Bob's turn for action. 

"The kettle is boiling, auntie, " he cried out, poking fresh sticks inthe fire, which crackled and spitted out as the sap in pieces of thegreener wood caught the heat, the smoke ascending in a column of spiralwreaths, and making Bob's eyes smart on his getting to leeward of theblazing pile. "Shall we have tea now?"

"Yes, my dear boy, " said she in a very pathetic voice. "Do, please, make it as quick as you can, I feel quite faint for want of some, as itis long past the time for my usual afternoon cup. "

"All right, auntie, " replied Bob, bustling about with great zeal, "Iwill get it ready in a jiffy. But, where's the tea?"

"It's in the teapot, I suppose, my dear; and you'll find that in thehamper with the teacups. Nellie and I thought we wouldn't unpack themuntil they were wanted. "

Nell, who had been sitting between her aunt and the Captain, on hearingher name introduced, at once got up to help Bob; but in spite of everysearch, neither of them could find the tea. 

As in the case of the bread, the "good Sarah" had forgotten it; for, neither in teapot, teacups or elsewhere could the tea be seen!

"Well, ma'am!" exclaimed the Captain on hearing the painful news. "Thatbates Banagher, as one of your countrymen would say. "

"I'm sure nobody could be more sorry than I am, " pleaded poor MrsGilmour, whom this second mishap completely overwhelmed, "I did so longfor a cup of tea!"

"Well, well, " said the Captain when he was able to speak, after a seriesof chuckles that made him almost choke, "the next time that a picnic'sin the wind I'd take care, if I were you, to overhaul your hamper beforestarting, to see that nothing is forgotten. "

"It's all `that good Sarah, ' auntie, " cried Bob slily; and, then, theyall had another laugh, the misfortunes of the day being provocative, somehow or other, of the greatest fun. "Oh that `good Sarah'!"

It appeared as if Mrs Gilmour would be the only sufferer in having togo without her tea: but, at this critical point, Hellyer came to therescue. 

"Beg pardon, mum, " said he, stepping up to her with a deferential touchof his forelock; "but I knows the woman in the keeper's lodge where youcomed in, and I thinks as how I could borrow a bit o' tea from her, ifyou likes. "

"Thank you very much, if it's no trouble, " replied Mrs Gilmour, hailingthe offer with joy, "I certainly would like it. "

Hardly waiting to hear the termination of her reply, the thoughtfulfollow darted off along the winding path through the shrubbery by whichthey had gained the pleasant little dell; returning before they thoughthe could have reached the keeper's lodge with a little packet of tea. This Miss Nell took from Hellyer and at once emptied into the teapot, while Bob attended to the kettle and poured the boiling water in; sothat Mrs Gilmour was soon provided with the wished-for cup of herfavourite beverage. 

The good lady's equanimity being now restored, she proceeded to questionthe Captain about the Roman villa at Brading. 

"But, what did you see after all?" she asked; "you haven't told us aword yet. "

"Oh, don't speak about it, ma'am, " he replied grumpily. "It's a regularswindle. "

"But, what did you see?" she repeated, knowing his manner, and that hewas not put out with her, at all events. "I want to know. "

"See?" echoed the Captain, snorting out the word somehow with suppressedindignation. "Well, ma'am, to tell you the truth, we saw nothing butsome fragments of old pottery--"

"Just like broken pieces of flower-pots, auntie, " interrupted Master Bobin his eagerness. "The same as you have at the bottom of the garden. "

"Yes, " continued the old sailor, "that's exactly what these muchexaggerated `remains' resembled more than anything else, I assure you, ma'am. Of course, all these bits of earthenware were arranged in orderand labelled and all that; but I couldn't make head or tail of them. "

"Perhaps you do not understand archaeology?" suggested Mrs Gilmour, smiling at his description. "That's the rayson they didn't interestyou, sure!"

"P'r'aps not, ma'am, " he replied with the utmost good temper. "I fancyI know something of seamanship and a little about natural history, butof most of the other 'ologies I confess my ignorance; and, for the lifeof me, I can't see how some people can find anything to enjoy in the oldpots and pans of our great-great-grandfathers!"

"You forget the light which these relics throw on the manners andcustoms of the ancients, " argued the other. "There's a good deal ofinformation to be gleaned from their mute testimony sure, me dearCaptain. "

"Information?" growled the Captain. "Fiddlesticks! And as for themanners and customs of our ancestors; why, if all I have read be true, they were uncommonly similar to the account given by a middy of thenatives of the Andaman Isles, as jotted down in his diary, `manners, none--customs, beastly!'"

"That's shocking, " exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, laughing. "But the criticismwill not apply to the Romans, who were almost as civilised and refinedas ourselves. "

"And that's not saying much!" said the Captain with one of his slychuckles. "Faith we haven't any to boast of!"

"Speak for yourself, " she retorted, "sure that's a very poor complimentyou're paying me. "

"Present company always excepted, " he replied, with an old-fashioned bowlike that of a courtier. "You know I didn't allude to you. "

"I accept your apology, sir, " said she with equally elaboratepoliteness. "I would make you a curtsy if I were standing up, but youwouldn't wish me to rise for the purpose. Did you not see, though, anything at all like the ruins of a Roman villa or house at Brading?"

The Captain took a pinch of snuff, as if to digest the matter beforeanswering her question. 

"Well, ma'am, " he began, after a long pause of cogitation, "we wereshown some bits of brickwork, marked out in divisions like thefoundations of a house: and a place with a hole in the floor which, theysaid, was a bath-room. We also saw a piece or two of tesselatedpavement, with a lot of other gimcracks; but I certainly had to exercisea good deal of fancy to imagine a villa out of all these scattereddetails, like the Marchioness in Dickens' _Old Curiosity Shop_, which Iwas reading the other day, `made believe' about her orange-peel wine!"

"Then we didn't lose much by not accompanying you?" she remarked. "Iwas rather sorry afterwards I was unable to go. "

"Lose anything?" he repeated with emphasis, "I should think not, indeed!If my poor legs could speak, they would tell you that you've gained`pretty considerably, ' as a Yankee would say, by remaining comfortablyhere. Hullo, missy, what a splendid posy you've got there!"

"Yes, are they not nice?" replied Nellie, on the Captain thus turningthe conversation to her collection of wild-flowers, some of which shehad arranged tastefully in a big bunch and placed them in her tin bucketfilled with water to keep them fresh. "Aunt Polly helped me to gatherthem. "

"I dare say she told you their names and all about them at the sametime, my dear. "

"Oh yes, Captain Dresser, " said Nellie. "She told me lots. "

"Ah!" ejaculated the Captain, heaving a deep sigh of regret. "If I onlyknew as much as your auntie does of botany, missy, what a clever oldchap I should be!"

"Don't you believe him, Nell!" cried Mrs Gilmour deprecating thecompliment. "Captain Dresser knows quite as much as I do about plantsand flowers, and a good deal more, too. I only wish he had been here totell you the story of the `Devil's bit, ' for he would have narrated itin a much better fashion than I did, I'm sure. "

"The divvle a bit of it, ma'am!" exclaimed the old sailor, bursting intoa jovial laugh at his joke, wherein even the staid Hellyer joined. "But, a truce to your blarney, ma'am; or, you'll make me blush. Allowme to inform you that time is getting on; and, unless we make a startfor the pier soon, we'll never catch the steamer and reach home to-night!"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

WRECKED. 

"How's that, sure?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "It's early yet, for the sun'sstill overhead. "

"You forget, ma'am, our old friend up there is rather a late bird atthis time of year, " replied the Captain. "He hasn't crossed the lineyet, you know. "

"Well, then, " argued the good lady, who was sitting at her ease on apile of shawls and wraps, enjoying a second cup of tea which Nell hadjust poured out for her, "where's the hurry?"

"Oh, pray take your time, ma'am, I wouldn't like to hasten yourmovements for worlds, you look so comfortable!" said the old sailorsatirically. "Perhaps you'd allow me to mention, however, just in afriendly way, that it is now half-past five o'clock, and the steamerstarts at six!"

This made Mrs Gilmour jump up so suddenly that she spilt her tea, whichmade them laugh; and all set to work in a merry mood to collect theirtraps for the return journey, the good lady saying she would "neverforgive the Captain" for not telling her the time before. 

The coastguardsman had to shoulder the hamper when packed, as well ascarry the empty water-jar; for, both Bob and Dick, whose respectiveburdens these had previously been, had rushed off soon after luncheonand when all interest in making a fire and boiling the kettle hadceased, down to the shore, where presently the truants were discovered. 

They were wading in the sea, without their shoes and stockings, in highglee, and hunting amongst the rocks for anemones and corallines for theaquarium, having already nearly filled with specimens Nellie's usefullittle tin bucket, from which her poor nosegay had been ruthlesslyremoved. 

"Hullo, you boys!" sang out the Captain on catching sight of them, afterconsulting his watch; "you'll have to come out of that at once. Time'sup, for the steamer will be due in another five minutes. Look sharp!"

"Do stop a moment, " answered Bob, just then busy at the base of a rockclose by the pier, which was nearly awash with the incoming tide, "I'vefound such a jolly sea-anemone here. Come and see it, please, Captain. "

"Are you sure it's not a weed?" called back the old sailor a trifleimpatiently. "We can't waste any time on rubbish!"

"Of course not; I should think I ought to know an anemone by now, sir!"cried Bob, rather indignant at being supposed capable of making such amistake, albeit his knowledge on the subject, it must be confessed, wasbut slight and only lately acquired. "It is coloured beautifully, andlooks like a purple chrysanthemum. "

"By Jove!" exclaimed the Captain, forgetting the steamer and his fatiguealike as he hurried towards the spot where Bob was paddling in the waterand Dick standing close by, bucket in hand. "Why, it's the very thingI've been hunting for, missy, to set off your aquarium. "

"Mind you don't get your feet wet!" called out Mrs Gilmour, in greatsolicitude, as he went off in keen ardour to assist the boys in securingthe prize, the good lady adding, as Nellie scampered after him, shecontenting herself with remaining higher up on the shore: "Take care, mydearie! I don't want to have you laid up, with your father and mothercoming down in a few days, when I want you to look your best. "

"Never fear, I'll take care of her and myself too!" sang out theCaptain, who by this time, hopping from rock to rock, in which operationhe was closely followed and imitated by the giggling Nellie behind him, had reached the boulder where Bob was. "Keep close to me, missy. "

"Don't touch it for a little while, my boy, I want your sister to see itexpanded, and it will close up if you go poking it about. Look, MissNell!" he continued, pointing it out to her with the end of his malaccacane, "The sun is just shining on it through the water, and you can seaits colours of pink, purple, and orange. This is one of the actinea, or`anthozoa, ' so-called from two Greek words meaning `living flowers. ' Apretty name, missy, isn't it?"

"Yes, " said Nellie. "It reminds me of a fairy tale aunt Polly told meof the different flowers in the garden having a party and talkingtogether. "

"Precisely, my dear; only the anthozoa can't talk!"

"But, oh, how pretty this sea-anemone is!" cried she in ecstasies, notnoticing his little bit of satire. "It is wonderful!"

"It is, my dear, " replied the Captain; "although it's one of thecommonest forms of the actinea family. As Bob said just now, it is verylike a chrysanthemum; and, if anything, more beautiful, which you cansee for yourself before we try to shift its lodging. It is called by afearfully long scientific name, which to my mind does a positive injuryto the poor beast. What do you think of such a jaw-breaker as`mesembryanthemum, ' eh?"

"Oh!" ejaculated Nell, "what an awful word! I'm sure I shall never beable to remember it. "

"You must, missy, if you want to describe properly the inmates of youraquarium, where this gentleman is now going to make a move for. Now, Bob, " went on the Captain, turning round to the boys, who were anxiouslywaiting, all eagerness to commence proceedings, "put that knife ofyours, that you have been brandishing all this time, carefully under thebase of the poor beggar, and try to peel him off, as I see the rock istoo smooth for us to break away. Mind you don't touch the animal withthe sharp point, though; for the slightest scratch will kill him. "

Nellie watched Bob with eager attention from the top of the boulder;while Dick held the little tin bucket below the sea-anemone, so as tocatch it as soon as it had been separated from the rock. At the firsttouch of Bob's knife, the anemone shrunk in, showing nothing but a rowof blue turquoise-like beads around its top or mouth; the rest of theanimal appearing to be but a dull lump of jelly, all its vivid coloursand iridescent hues having vanished on the instant of its being assailedby Bob with that formidable weapon of his. 

"It's wounded!" cried Nellie impulsively. "Don't hurt it, Bob, poorthing!"

"It's all right, missy, " said the Captain, consolingly. "It alwaysshrinks like that when any one interferes with it. But, look sharp, Bob, there's your aunt waving her handkerchief like mad from the pier-head to say that the steamer's coming in; and, by Jove, there she is, rounding the point!"

They did look sharp; the boys, after the anemone was secured, scamperingashore in extra high spirits on account of the old sailor telling themthat they had no time to put their shoes and stockings on, and wouldhave to go on board the _Bembridge Belle_ without them, like a pair ofmudlarks. 

The Captain hurried, too, jumping from rock to rock and boulder toboulder, a precaution now even more necessary than before, from the tidehaving risen considerably even during their short delay and being nownearly at the flood. 

Sure-footed himself as an old sailor, though holding Nellie's hand toprevent her slipping, he found time, in spite of his hurry, to point outto her, growing on the beach under the low cliff, beyond where thekeeper's lodge stood, a solitary specimen of the "sea cabbage, " whosebright yellow flowers and fleshy green leaves, he suggested, would be anaddition to the general effect of her bouquet, which, by the way, MrsGilmour had taken charge of while she went anemone-gathering, after thishad been discarded from the bucket. 

"It isn't bad eating, either, when on a pinch for green stuff, " addedthe old sailor; "and I've seen boys hawking the plant about for sale atDover. But, let us push ahead, missy--run, boys, run, the steamer'salongside!"

With their shoes and stockings slung over their shoulders, Bob and Dickpattered along the shaky suspension bridge to the pier in advance, making good way in their bare feet; but, old as he was, the Captain wasnot far behind, going at a jog-trot that made Miss Nell step out to keeppace with him. 

However, they were not sorry when they reached the pier-head, for, allthe while they were running, the steam-whistle of the _Bembridge Belle_was screeching away, as if telling them they would be too late, andthreatening to start off without them if they did not hurry. 

"Just did it!" gasped the Captain, setting foot on the gangway andjumping on board, dragging poor Nellie almost in as breathless a stateafter him, Bob and Dick having already preceded them. "By Jove, it wasa near squeak, though!"

"Sure, it's your own fault you're not cool and comfortable like mesilf, "said Mrs Gilmour, whom Hellyer had escorted to the pier. He had, likewise, secured a good seat for her in the stern-sheets of the boat, as the Captain had previously done; and here she was now snuglyensconced when the late-comers arrived-- "How hot you do look, to besure!"

"Humph!" growled the Captain, not making any further reply to her ratherexasperating remark until he had finished mopping his flushed face witha bright bandana handkerchief of the same red hue; when he added grimly, as if somewhat out of temper, "If I'm hot, ma'am, you're _cool_, that'sall I can say!"

Mrs Gilmour, however, was used to his ways and knew how to humour him. 

"Now, don't you go pretending you're angry, " she said, laughing merrily. "You needn't, sure, for I know better!"

"As you please, ma'am, as you please, ma'am, " he replied, adding withhis usual chuckle-- "I know you are bound to have your own way, ma'am, whether I like it or not!"

They both laughed at this, these little tiffs between them being offrequent occurrence, especially of an evening over the cribbage-board;and, matters being again on a comfortable footing, they turned to thechildren, who were looking out, as before, over the side at the variousobjects that presented themselves as the _Bembridge Belle_ ploughed herway back to Southsea. 

The steamer passed quite close to one of the harbour forts in the sea, guarding the approaches to Spithead; and, of course, Bob, who with Dickhad now again donned his shoes and stockings, wanted to know all aboutthe imposing structure with its frowning guns, by the side of which theboat they were in seemed a veritable cockleshell, although a fairlygood-size; vessel. 

Equally, of course, the Captain had to tell him what he knew--how thefort was built of solid masonry, sixteen feet thick, with two feet ofarmour-plating outside that; and how the little fortress, as itundoubtedly was, had a well dug deep down into the sands below the sea, to supply its garrison with fresh-water in the event of communicationbeing cut off with the mainland. To provide against which contingencyit was also provisioned and furnished with every requisite to stand asiege. 

He was explaining all this, when a large screw-steamer, high in the bowsand low in the stern, crossed the _Bembridge Belle_ making forPortsmouth. 

"Hullo, ma'am!" cried the Captain, glad to have the opportunity of a slydig at Mrs Gilmour in remembrance of her previous amusement at hisexpense, "there's your pig-boat!"

"What!" said she innocently. "I don't understand you. "

"The Irish pig-boat, ma'am, " he repeated, his beady black eyes twinklingand his bushy eyebrows moving up and down, as they always did when hesaid anything funny. "It brings your fellow-countrymen over here twicea week. "

"You're very complimentary, sir, " said she. "Very complimentary, Ideclare!"

"Not a bit of it, ma'am, " he replied, delighted at the idea of hertaking his remark seriously. "Don't you, in your `swate little island'call poor piggy `the jintleman who pays the rint, ' eh?"

"Sure, " she retorted with a smile, taking up the cudgels on behalf ofher country, "there are more pigs in England than what come over fromIreland!"

"I cry a truce!" exclaimed the old sailor laughing heartily, Bob andNell, too, as well as Dick, appreciating the joke hugely; "you had methere, ma'am, you had me there!"

The _Bembridge Belle_ was now well across the waterway, rapidly nearingthe pier from which they had originally started in the morning, and MrsGilmour was just saying what a very enjoyable day they had passed, inspite of all mishaps, while Nellie was priding herself on the grandcollection of wild-flowers she had made with her aunt's help, and Boband Dick busy over the bucket, showing Hellyer the various treasuresthey had picked up amongst the rocks on the shore; when, all at once, the bows of the steamer struck against something in the channel, with aconcussion that threw nearly everybody off their feet--the shock beingsucceeded by a harsh grating sound as if her hull was gradually beingripped open. 

"Good gracious me!" cried out Mrs Gilmour, "what on earth is that?"

Nobody, however, for the moment, attended to her: nobody, indeed, evenheard the question; for the scene of quiet enjoyment which the deck hadpresented the moment before was changed to one of utter confusion, theshrieks of frightened women and hoarse cries of some of the men minglingwith the screams of children and the noise of escaping steam, roaring upthe funnel. 

Captain Dresser had hastened forwards to the forecastle of the ill-fatedvessel to see with his own eyes what had happened as soon as the steamerstruck, being immediately followed by Dick and Bob, who left Nellieclinging to her aunt in great consternation. 

As for the skipper of the poor steamer, he seemed to have lost his headcompletely, for he was shouting out orders one moment from the bridgeand contradicting them the next: while the crew were rushing about thedecks aimlessly, one going here and another there, without apparent endor purpose, every one looking bewildered from the want of properleadership. 

"Keep calm, ladies!" the skipper sang out at intervals between hisorders to the seamen and firemen, whom the incessant sounding of theengine-room gong had brought up from below. "Keep cool; there's nodanger, I tell you!"

He himself, however, appeared so perturbed, that his assurancesincreased, instead of lessened, the panic amongst the passengers, whohuddled together in groups like startled sheep; and Nell clasped heraunt's hand tightly, the two awaiting in great anxiety Captain Dresser'sreturn from his inspection of the vessel forwards. 

They were not long kept in suspense. 

After a brief interview, which seemed an eternity, the old sailor re-appeared aft. 

His face looked very grave. 

"I'm sorry for the old _Bembridge Belle_" he said in a low tone to MrsGilmour, so as not to be overheard by the other passengers standingnear. "The poor thing has a large hole knocked through her forecompartment, and is filling with water fast!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 

THE "GOOD SARAH'S" FORGET-ME-NOTS. 

"Tell me, is there any danger?" asked Mrs Gilmour, speaking quitecalmly, in spite of her fears; for, although of a somewhat hastydisposition and apt to be put out at trifles, she was possessed of astrong, natural courage, which, as is the case with most of the so-called "tender sex, " only displayed itself in great emergencies. "Youmay disclose the worst. I can bear it!"

"Pooh!" grunted the Captain off-hand, rather impolitely. "There's no`worst' to tell, ma'am. All on board are quite safe, and will be putashore securely as soon as the boats come off. My fears are for theunfortunate vessel, the loss of which will be a sad blow to her skipper, poor fellow, as he has staked his all in her!"

"But, Captain, " she rejoined, "why do you look so serious?"

"Serious?" he repeated after her, the hard lines in his face at oncerelaxing--"so would you, too, look serious, ma'am, if you thought of thematter in the same light. You see, I can't help looking upon a ship asa sort of living creature; and to think of a fine boat like this comingto grief in such a lubberly fashion is enough almost to make one cry!"

His eyes blinked furiously as he said this, the bushy eyebrows abovemoving up and down; and, taking out his bright bandana handkerchief, heblew his nose with vigour, as if to give vent to his emotion, Nellie, whose pale face had gained a little more colour since theCaptain's reassuring words to her aunt, now sidled up to him, catchinghold of his hand affectionately. 

"But will the poor steamer really be lost?" she inquired timidly;"wrecked, as sailors call it?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so with the pack of nincompoops we've got on board, " hegrowled. "They're talking of beaching her; and if so, with the windchopping round to the eastwards, as those porpoises you saw this morningtold us it will do by and by, for they're unfailing weather prophetsalways, why, the unfortunate craft will lay her bones on the shingle. She will, at all events, if any sort of a sea get up, or call me nosailor!"

Bob, who on his return from the fore-part of the vessel in company withCaptain Dresser had stationed himself again by the engine-room hatchway, here gave a shout. 

"They're moving, " he cried; "I see the piston going up and down, and theshaft turning round!"

The rapid beat of the paddle-wheels on the water alongside gavetestimony to the truth of Bob's statement; but to Nell's surprise, nochurned-up foam came drifting by astern as before, and she couldn't makeit out. 

The paradox, however, was made plain to her by Hellyer, who did not seemto trouble himself much about the mishap, remaining seated on thehamper, which he had placed by the after sponsing of the starboardpaddle-box. The coastguardsman, indeed, appeared as unconcernedthroughout all the fuss as if he were safe ashore in his own littlecabin on the beach; while Rover kept close beside him, as he had donesince Hellyer took charge of the hamper which he had brought on board--the dog evidently considering himself still responsible for all thepicnic goods and chattels that his young mistress had told him to watch. 

"The paddles is backin' astern, " replied Hellyer; "and so, miss, theirwake drifts for'ard instead of aft. That's the reason, miss, you seesnothing washing by. "

But this movement did not long continue, two strokes of the gong in theengine-room being heard as the captain of the steamer moved the brasshandle of the mechanical telegraph on the bridge; whereupon, themachinery was suddenly stopped. 

Then the gong sounded twice again, the signal being followed by thequick "splash--splash--splash!" of the paddles once more in the water;when Nellie was delighted by seeing the creamy foam tossing up alongsidewhere she and her aunt were now standing again, they having vacatedtheir seats on the first alarm, like others of the passengers. 

"By Jove!" muttered the Captain, half aloud. "The fool of a fellow isactually going ahead again!"

"What!" cried Mrs Gilmour-- "any new danger?"

"Oh, nothing, " he snapped out, evidently very grumpy at things not beingdone in the way he thought best. "I was only uttering my thoughtsaloud, ma'am. If you must know, I think it very risky of our friend theskipper trying to drive the boat ahead when she's down by the bows. Poor chap, I'm afraid he has lost his head, the same as the vessel hashers! Never mind, though, she cannot go very far in this shoal water, or I'm a Dutchman!"

Nor did she. 

In less than a minute there was another heavy bump that shook the deckfore and aft, making all the passengers tumble about like ninepins. Bobnearly took a dive through the hatchway of the engine-room, into whichhe was still peering, and Nellie fell on poor Rover, causing him toutter a plaintive howl; while, as for Mrs Gilmour, she lurched againstthe Captain as if she were going to embrace him with open arms, treadingat the same time on his worst foot, whereon flourished a pet corn thatgave the old sailor infinite trouble, which he ever guarded as the appleof his eye. 

"O-o-o-o-oh!" he groaned, hopping about the deck on one leg and holdingup the injured foot with both his hands, "I knew some further mischiefwould come from what that idiot of a skipper was doing!"

Meanwhile, the steamboat people on the pier, off which they had groundedonly some three or four hundred yards away, seeing the predicament ofthe vessel, set to work sending off boats to land the passengers. 

The first of these reached the little vessel just as she struck thesandbank she had run foul of for the second time; then coming to a deadstop as if she meant now to remain there for good and all. 

"Are we to go ashore in one of those?" asked Bob, pointing out the fleetof small boats making for the steamer, besides the two that had alreadycome up to her; some being launched by the watermen on the beach inaddition to those sent off from the pier. "What fun to have a boat allto ourselves, as I suppose we shall!"

"Yes, I suppose so, if we are to get to land at all, " replied theCaptain, who had become a little more amiable, his natural good-humourasserting itself as the pain in his foot somewhat subsided; "I don't seehow we can otherwise, unless we swim for it; the vessel is now stuckquite fast with no chance of her moving until she is lightened of hercargo of passengers. "

"That will be jolly!" cried Bob. "Why it's just like a regularshipwreck!"

"Ah, my boy, " said the old sailor, shaking his head, "if you everexperienced the realities of one, you would not speak so lightly. Ashipwreck, let me tell you, is no laughing matter. "

"I didn't mean that, " explained Bob, "I was only thinking how jolly itwould be for us all to have a row, instead of landing at the pierquietly, as we would have done if nothing had happened. "

"Sure, and I don't see where your `jollity' comes in, Master Bob!"observed his aunt, not by any means relishing the prospect. "It may beall very well for you; but I can't say I like the idea of scramblingdown the side of the vessel into one of these cockleshells and runningthe risk of getting drowned. "

"Oh, no, you won't, ma'am, " rejoined the Captain chuckling again, hercomical consternation soothing the last acerbities of his temper. "Youshan't drown yourself if I can prevent you, ma'am!"

There was no necessity, however, for the Captain to exert himselfespecially on her behalf; for, the boats being hauled up in turnalongside and only a proper number being allowed to get into each, nocasualty occurred such as Mrs Gilmour dreaded. Thus, in a very shortspace of time, all the passengers were safely transferred from thestranded steamer to the shore, where a large crowd of sympathisingbystanders had now assembled. 

"There!" exclaimed the Captain, as he jumped out of the wherry in whichtheir little party had taken passage, "catch me going in one of thoseexcursion craft again! Of all the clumsy lubbers I have ever had themisfortune to be shipmate with, that skipper is about the biggest andmost lubberly. You can take the word of an old sailor for that!"

"Why, sure, what could the poor man have done, when the steamer wassinking?" said Mrs Gilmour, as he assisted her also carefully to land. "It's none of his fault that I can see. "

"What could he have done, eh?" retorted the Captain warmly. "Why, anything else but what he did do. When he saw his fore compartment wasfull of water, he should have backed the vessel; and then he could havetaken her stern-end foremost up to the pier, and landed us comfortablywithout any bother half an hour ago. Instead of that, what does he dobut go backing and filling, first with his engines full speed ahead, andthen ditto astern, ending by sticking hard and fast at the same spotwhere he first struck. While now, to clench the matter, he's going torun the steamer ashore and beach her, he tells me, as soon as the tidefloats her; the upshot of which will be that she'll break her back andprobably become a total wreck. "

"Why didn't you advise him?" she asked. "Eh, my old friend?"

"The foolish fellow! I pitied him at first, but I can't say I do so anylonger. He wouldn't listen to me. He's just like the intelligent Isleof Wight farmer I've heard of, one of whose calves having got its headentangled in a wooden fence, in lieu of cutting the palings, thought theonly way to release the calf was by cutting its head off!"

"Sure, nobody could have been so stupid!" cried Mrs Gilmour laughing. "What, cut off the poor thing's head in order to extricate it?"

"Sure an' they did, ma'am, " said he, mimicking her; "and, I'm sorry tosay, our friend the skipper is one of the same kidney!"

While the two were thus talking, Bob and Nell remained down on thebeach, awaiting the arrival of Dick and Hellyer, who through want ofroom in their wherry had to come ashore in another boat. 

Rover, such was his strict sense of duty, strange to say, instead ofaccompanying his young master and mistress, was still intent on keepingin sight of the hamper. 

Accordingly, he stopped on board the steamer till Hellyer, the hamper'scustodian, left her; when after seeing him and Dick embarked along withthe hamper, the retriever jumped over the side of the stranded vesseland swam ashore in company with the boat containing his friends, apparently mistrusting the frail craft, and preferring to rely upon hisown powers in the water. 

Nor was he far behind, getting to land almost at the same moment thatthe wherry's keel grated on the beach; when, after shaking himselfdecorously as he had been taught, so as to avoid wetting his friends byhis excessive moisture, Rover barked and pranced round Hellyer and thehamper, and then round Bob and Nellie, as if to say in his doglanguage-- "There, my dear young master and mistress, I have dischargedmy trust faithfully, " scurrying off then to the higher part of theshore, where Mrs Gilmour and the Captain were standing, to tell themthe same tale, with a loud "Bow wow!"

"Come now, " cried Mrs Gilmour, on the little party being reunitedagain, "we must be off home at once; for, it is getting late, and Sarahwill be wondering where we all are. "

"Well, we mustn't keep `the good Sarah' waiting, " said the Captainslily, with a wink to Nellie that set her off laughing so that shedropped the bunch of wild-flowers which her aunt was just handing her atthe moment, and was obliged to stop to pick them up. "By Jove! though, ma'am, she may have forgotten _us_ as she did the other things. "

"You're too bad entirely!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour a little pettishly. "I suppose I shall never hear the last about that, nor poor Saraheither. Come on now, dearie; we must hasten home whether or no. "

So saying, she made the Captain wheel round from taking a last lingeringlook at the _Bembridge Belle_, whose skipper, now that she was a bitlightened aft by all the people having cleared out of her, had backedagain into deep water; and then putting on full steam ahead, was tryingto run her up high and dry ashore. 

After this parting glance at the poor vessel, our party proceeded ontheir way across the common back to The Moorings, Miss Nell, asaforesaid, carrying the bouquet of wild-flowers, and Bob the tin bucketof sea-anemones, their "spoil" of the day, in sporting parlance; whileHellyer and Dick brought up the rear of the procession with the hamperand empty water-jar, representing the relics of their picnic feast. 

Rover on this occasion, it may be added, acted anon as pioneer of thecolumn when he caracoled for awhile in front of them all; anon asbaggage-guard, when he followed at the heels of Hellyer, sniffing theempty hamper. 

Poor Sarah, "that good Sarah" whom Mrs Gilmour had so unhappilypraised, her penance was yet to come!

Bob was the first to assail her as she opened the door on their arrivalhome. 

"Who forgot the bread?" he shouted out, so loudly that, starting backwith fright, she almost tumbled. "Who forgot the bread?"

"Who forgot the tea?" cried Nellie, immediately behind him, following upher brother's attack and making Sarah jump afresh. "Who forgot thetea?"

"And who forgot her head?" said the Captain from the rear, pressing thecharge home; whereupon, they all, Mrs Gilmour included, halted on thedoorstep and roared with laughter. "Aye, who forgot her head?"

This was too much for the girl. 

"Oh my, me!" she exclaimed, staring at them in hopeless stupefaction. "Oh my, me!"

"Dear me!" observed Mrs Gilmour, her laugh subsiding into a broadsmile. "Why, you are quite a poet, Sarah. "

"Me, mum?" ejaculated the other, more astonished than ever. "Whateverhave I gone and done now?"

"Yes, " continued her mistress, "you've just supplied `the missing link'in our rhyme; and people who make poetry, of course, are poets. "

"Oh, auntie, I see, I see!" called out Nellie excitedly, in great glee. "I see it--don't you, Bob?"

"No, what is it?" asked that young gentleman. "See what?"

"Oh dear! and you began it, too, " cried Nell. "You really are a verystupid boy. Why, it's a regular verse of poetry--

 "Who forgot the bread? Who forgot the tea? And who forgot her head? Oh, my--me!

"Don't you see it now?"

"Oh, yes, " replied Bob, adding his usual expression when praisinganything--"it's jolly!"

"I confess I did not see it either at first; so, I suppose, you'll callme a stupid too, Miss Nellie, eh?" chuckled Captain Dresser. "However, now you've made it all clear to us, I will, if you like, christen yourshort but sweet poem for you. What say you to `Sarah's forget-me-nots'?Do you think that will do, eh?"

"Splendidly!" said Nell; an opinion which they all seemed to share, excepting poor Sarah, into whose ears the verselet was dinned soincessantly, both by Bob and Nellie, and even by the pert Dick, too, that its repetition, or any specific allusion to any one of the articlesshe had omitted in making up the historic hamper, would invariably makethe unfortunate damsel wince; while if the simple name of the innocentflower which the Captain had adopted were but mentioned, even withoutany malice prepense, the poor girl would leave the room at once. 

"Where are the forget-me-nots?" said Mrs Gilmour incautiously, forinstance, to Nellie, while arranging the wild-flowers in vases shortlybefore going to bed. "I can't see them at all anywhere. Can you, Sarah?"

There was no answer from her, however. 

Sarah was off like a shot!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 

"BROKEN UP!"

Early next morning, after their usual matutinal swim, Bob and Dickaccompanied the Captain for a stroll along the beach to the coastguard-station on the eastern side of the Castle, near to which the ill-fated_Bembridge Belle_ had been run ashore. 

Of course, Rover formed one of the party; carrying, equally as a matterof course, his young master's towels in his mouth and wagging his finebushy tail with even more energy than he generally evinced whenperforming that function, in order to express his proud exultation atthe trust reposed in him. 

At the coastguard-station they found Hellyer standing by the flagstaff, with his telescope under his left arm and evidently on duty. 

"Not much damage done to her hull yet, sir, " said he, touching his hat, as he thus anticipated the Captain's inquiry. "She were all awash, though, sir, at high-water this morning!"

"Indeed!" cried Captain Dresser. "Then, that forward bulkhead must havestarted when the fore compartment got full. "

"No doubt o' that, sir, " agreed Hellyer. "Why, the tide covered herafter-deck at Six Bells; and the cushions of the settees and a lot o'dunnage were floating about in the saloon below and washing through theports astern. "

"Her fo'c's'le, however, keeps high and dry. "

"Aye, now it do, sir, " replied Hellyer. "But, not for long!"

"You're right, my man, " said the Captain, after having a good squint atthe object of their commiseration. "She has been working already on theshingle, and her frame has been a good deal knocked about since lastnight. "

The coastguardsman gave a shrug to his shoulders. 

"I expect a tide or two'll settle her hash, sir, " he observed, afterthus relieving his pent-up feelings. "With the water making a cleansweep through her fore and aft every time it rises, the poor thing can'tlast long, sir!"

"Aye, " said the Captain. "She's bound to go to pieces, now, fastenough. "

"So I've reported to the commander, sir, this very morning, " continuedHellyer; "and, he's sent down word as I'm to keep men stationed alongthe shore so as to pick up any wreckage that mebbe washed out on her. "

"Quite right, " was the Captain's comment on this. "There are a lot oflight-fingered gentry about here, whom it is just as well to be on guardagainst. When will it be flood-tide to-night, Hellyer, eh?"

"Nigh upon nine o'clock, sir, " answered he. "Just afore the moonrises. "

"Humph!" muttered Captain Dresser, as if cogitating the matter andspeaking his thoughts aloud. "I think I'll come down then. The seaseems inclined to get up a bit?"

He raised his voice when uttering the last words, as if asking aquestion; so, the coastguardsman answered it at once. 

"That it do, sir, " he said with decision; "and, if the wind freshenmore, as is more'n likely, considerin' it's been backin' all themornin', I 'spects it'll be pretty rough by night-time!"

"Ah, well, so I think, too, Hellyer. Good-day to you, my man; I willcome down again this evening when the tide makes. I fancy she'll breakup then. Come on, boys!" sang out the old sailor in a higher key to Boband Dick, who had been amusing themselves by trying to walk round thehull of the stranded steamer, now nearly high and dry on the beach;although the venturesome fellows had to clamber over all sorts ofobstacles in the way of chain-cables and hawsers and other gear, besideswading through various pools of water to seaward, before they couldcongratulate themselves on effecting their object. "Come on now, myboys! There's nothing more to see at present; and I've promised MissNell to help her put those actinea we got yesterday at Seaview into hernew aquarium. "

"But, you will come down again with us to see the wreck, won't you?"eagerly asked Bob, running after the Captain, who on giving thisexplanation of his desire of not wasting any more time on the beach justthen, had started off already on his way back to the south parade, andwas hobbling off at a fine rate across the common. "I do so want to seethe poor vessel once more before they take her away, Captain!"

"Humph!" grunted out the old sailor as he puffed and panted onward likea steam-engine, turning the services of his trusty old malacca cane togood account. "I don't think, my boy, you need have any fear on thatscore. The only shape in which she's likely to be taken away from herpresent berth will be--in pieces!"

"By Jove, ma'am!" he exclaimed later on, when Mrs Gilmour and Nell methim at the gate of "the Moorings, " "I might just as well board with youat once. Dined with you on Monday, to lunch Tuesday; at breakfastyesterday, and again this morning. Why, I'll eat you out of house andhome!"

"Never fear, Captain, " said Mrs Gilmour smiling. "Sure, I'll take therisk of that. "

"But your servants, ma'am, " he argued, as Nell took away his hat andcane. "I'm afraid I give them a lot of trouble, and they'll bespringing a mutiny on you. "

"I don't know what poor Sarah'll do, sure; you've taised her so!"replied Mrs Gilmour jokingly. "But, Molly the cook's your friend, Iknow. She says you're the only one in the house that properlyappreciates her curries. "

"Faith and she turns them out well, ma'am; and you can tell her so, withmy compliments, " said the old sailor with much heartiness as he winkedto Nellie. "As for `that good Sarah, ' ma'am, I shall have to make mypeace with her by and by, with your permission. "

After breakfast, the Captain and Nellie, with the assistance of Bob andDick, even "the good Sarah, " too, being pressed into the service, setabout preparing the sea-anemones and other specimens they had collectedthe previous day for their new home in the aquarium which Mrs Gilmourhad bought for the purpose shortly before. 

This aquarium was in appearance somewhat like an inverted dish-cover ofglass--one of the best shapes to be had. This sort being free fromthose leaky joints that are the invariable accompaniment of all-squarecisterns; while globular ones have not got sufficient space at thebottom for rock-work, or those little hiding-places that delight thehearts of the denizens of the deep when they are free agents and intheir own waters. 

Presently, under the active superintendence of the old sailor, thewhilom empty glass receptacle began to assume a more picturesque aspect. 

To commence with, a groundwork was constructed of fine white sand andshells, each of the latter being washed in repeated baths of clear andfresh sea-water, which had been brought up from the beach in themorning, before being introduced into the aquarium; where, if success bedesired, cleanliness is as essential to the well-being of its littletenants as it is deemed to be amongst human beings. 

The Captain said something to this effect while making Nellie wash thedifferent shells, which he then arranged along the sandy bottom, whichwas made to slope from the back of the structure down to the centre, forming a sort of hollow there; and then rising again in front. 

"So far, so good, " said the Captain, placing some bits of rock in thebackground, which, leaning against each other, formed so many smallcaverns. "These will do for those crabs, which Master Bob insists onhaving, to retreat to when some of the other fry pay them too muchattention. "

On the right and left of the aquarium the old sailor dexterously builtup larger pieces of rock-work, intermixed with bits of red seaweed thatgrows in the form of a feathery plume, called by naturalists the"bryopsis plumosa, " than which no more graceful marine plant can befound. 

Close to this and serving as a contrast, the Captain placed the greenlaver he had made Nell pick up at the last moment when they were leavingSeaview and running to catch the steamer. 

"This chap, styled the `ulva latissima' by the scientific gentlemen whomanufacture such titles, is a capital thermometer, " said the Captain onputting in the laver. "You'll find he'll always rise to the surfacewhen the weather is bright and sunny; while he sinks back to the bottom, as I've put him now, on its being damp and overcast. "

In the more immediate foreground, a number of little starfish squattedabout on the miniature strand that shelved down from the rocks, arrangedwith much care to the general spectacular effect by Nellie, who was mostpainstaking in the matter. 

To be introduced into this very select marine retreat, the anemones hadto go through similar ablutions to the sand and the shells, as well asother things, all of them being at the outset cleansed with the greatestcare. When, however, this was done and the actinea put into theirfuture home, the aquarium blossomed out into a garden of live flowers, whose tentacles of various colours resembled so many chrysanthemums, dahlias, and daisies, of the most gorgeous hues ever seen on Nature'spalette!

Of course, the actinea did not make themselves at home in their newlodgings and disclose their beauties all at once; but, in a few days, none of them having been hurt by Bob's knife, they seemed to have becomeacclimatised, putting out the petals of their flower-like bodies asfreely as when in their native pools at Seaview. So, too, did abeautiful rose and white dianthus, which Dick had picked up adhering toan ugly old oyster-shell; and, the even rarer anthea, whose long hangingfilaments were never altogether withdrawn into its body when disturbed, as was the case with the other sea-anemones, and which were thus aconstant source of alarm to Bob's little crabs; for, it was everlistlessly waving perilously near these nervous creatures, making themhurry out of their way in such frantic haste as their lateralconformation permitted. 

It was a long job arranging the aquarium, engrossing the attention ofall engaged and taking up the entire morning; aye, and all midday, too!

"Good gracious me!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour, coming into the room whenthey had just completed the task. "What a long time you've been at it, to be sure! I believe I could have made an aquarium by now, let alonefit it up. "

"Ah, ma'am, `more haste, worse speed, '" retorted the old sailor. "`Romewasn't built in a day, ' you know. "

"I thought you had enough of the Romans yesterday, " said Mrs Gilmour, giving him this little cut in return for his brace of proverbs. "But, come, Sarah, you must see about getting luncheon now. I want it readyas soon as possible. You'll stop, Captain Dresser, I suppose?"

"Oh yes, ma'am, if you'll allow me, " he replied with a chuckle. "I knowwhen I'm well off. You recollect, ma'am, you said just now the cook wasmy friend. "

"Do you know why I wanted to have lunch especially early to-day?" sheasked him anon, when they were seated at the table. "Can you guess?"

"No, by Jove, I can't!" he snorted out indignantly. "I'm not aclairvoyant, or whatever else you call those people who pretend to readother people's thoughts. "

"Sure, then, I'll tell you, " she said, laughing at his quaint manner, "I'm going to see Mrs Craddock. "

"I'm just as much in the dark as ever, " he retorted. "Who the dickensis the woman, eh?"

Nell saved her aunt the trouble of answering. 

"Why, don't you remember the old lady at the station whom Rover tumbleddown and broke her eggs?" she cried out eagerly. "You must recollect, for you sent her some port wine for her poor daughter, which auntie andI took the second time we went to see her. --You must remember her!"

"Ah, yes, I remember now, " said the Captain, scratching his headreflectively. "So that's her name, eh--Craddock, Craddock. Where haveI heard it before? By Jove, I've got it now! Why, ma'am, there was aCraddock who was boatswain of the old _Bucephalus_ on the West Coast. "

"What!" cried Mrs Gilmour. "My poor dear Ted's ship?"

"The same, ma'am, " he answered. "I recollect the man very well now. Hewas a tall, spare, intellectual-looking chap, more like a longshore manthan a sailor. He was delicate, too, suffering from a weak chest; and, Ted told me, now I come to think of it, that he volunteered for a secondterm of service on the African station in order to be in a warm climate. It didn't do him much good, though, for he died on the commission. "

"How strange!" said Mrs Gilmour pensively. "I don't remember poor Tedwriting me anything about it, but I've no doubt the man was our MrsCraddock's husband, and, if so, that will make me take an additionalinterest in her. Run upstairs, Nell, and get ready at once, my dear. As soon as you come down we'll start, for I have only got to put on mybonnet. "

"Do you want me to come, too?" faltered the Captain, who, unlessvisiting a sick-bed on an errand of mercy, dreaded going to see any onewhom he had been kind to, the old sailor doing all his good deeds, andthey were many, by stealth. Indeed, the very idea of being thanked madehim always inclined to run away, a thing he had never done from anenemy. 

"Well, if you'd rather not, or if you've somewhere else to go, I won'tinsist. "

"Why, I did promise to go down to the Club, " he replied, still speakingin a half-hesitating way. "I--I--I--"

"I know, " said Mrs Gilmour, interrupting him, and looking veryknowing--"you don't want to go to Mrs Craddock's, because you sent herpoor daughter some port wine, and are afraid of being thanked for it--that's the reason, I know. " The Captain blushed. 

"I assure you, ma'am, " he began timidly to remonstrate against herconclusion, when suddenly some little recollection gave him renewedcourage. "By Jove, I declare I nearly forgot all about it! I've got tomeet Sponson at the Club to see when that ship is going out for hertrials; I mean the one which I'm going to take Bob on board of. "

"Well, be off with you to your Club, " she rejoined laughing, giving hima little push in joke. "Away with you at once!"

"You see, she turns me out, " he said humorously to Bob, in a sort ofstage aside. "That's what you might call Irish hospitality. "

He hurried out after his insulting remark, but popped in his head againat the door to make a parting request. 

"May I come back to dinner, please?" he asked, with his hands clasped inmute entreaty also. "I have breakfasted and lunched with you, so I mayjust as well make a day of it, and come to dinner. "

"Yes, if you're good, " she replied. "But why so particularly thisevening? I'm afraid it's a Banian day, and Molly will not have anythingnice for you. "

"Never mind that, ma'am. I want to take you all down to see the wreckat high-water, " said he. "It will probably be the last of the oldship. "

"Hurrah!" exclaimed Bob, pitching his hat in the air, and catching itdexterously again. "Won't that be jolly?"

On Nell now coming downstairs, they proceeded on their respective ways;the Captain into Portsmouth, and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nellie, accompanied by Dick carrying a basket, to Mrs Craddock's old-fashionedcottage, at Fratton--almost in the opposite direction. 

Here Mrs Gilmour, after one or two inquiries, discovered, much to hersatisfaction, that the widow and her daughter were the wife and child ofher husband's boatswain, whence ensued much talk between herself and theold lady, who declared the invalid to be "the very image of poor dearCraddock!"

While their elders were conversing, Nellie was also having a chat withthe bedridden girl, who, she was glad to see, looked decidedly betterthan at the time of her last visit; an improvement doubtless due to theCaptain's old port; and other nourishing things Mrs Gilmour had takenher. 

Bob meanwhile had been overhauling the various curios in the littleparlour, where the invalid was lying, this being the first time he hadbeen there. 

"Oh, auntie, " he called out presently, "do look at this Chinese idolhere! It's just like one I saw at the South Kensington Museum, only ithas such funny wooden shoes on. "

Mrs Gilmour came across the room to look at the monster figuresquatting down in the corner; but, on Bob's showing her the shoes, shelaughed. 

"Those are not Chinese, my boy, " she exclaimed, "they are a pair ofwooden sabots from France, such as are worn by the peasants of Brittanyand Normandy. "

"You're quite right, my lady, " said the widow Craddock, approachingthem. "My son, who was a sailor like his father, found them on board aFrench vessel he helped that was in distress in the Channel; so, hebrought them home and stuck them on that there h'image in fun. Lawk, mum, if them wooden shoes could talk, it's a queer tale they'd tell ye, fur they was the means, or leastways it wer' through his boarding thevessel where he found 'em, that my son Jim, which was his name, my lady, come to give up the sea; although, mind you, he's summat to do with itstill, being a fisherman fur that matter. However, the end of it wasthat he marries the French gal as took his fancy when he comed acrossthem shoes, and went to live at Saint Mailer, as they calls it. "

"Saint Malo, I suppose, " corrected Mrs Gilmour. "Eh?"

"Yes, my lady, I sed Saint Mailer, didn't I?" replied the old dame, notperceiving where the delicate distinction lay; and then she went on torelate in a very roundabout fashion all the incidents connected with herson's marriage--as well as talking of everything else under the sun, soit seemed to Bob, who thought it an interminably long story, and washeartily glad when old Mrs Craddock got to the end of it. 

But, little did he think in how short a space of time he would bebrought in contact with that son of hers, Jim Craddock, in the verystrangest manner, and under circumstances that would never have enteredhis wildest dreams!

However, he did not know this; and, while the old dame was spinning heryarn, Bob employed the time by looking at the model of a ship over themantelpiece, which brought back to his mind all about the _BembridgeBelle_, making him feel on tenter-hooks lest they should be late fordinner, and so be unable to go down afterwards and see the wreck, as theCaptain had arranged. 

He need not have been so fidgety, though. 

Everything comes to an end in time, as did the old lady's talk; andthen, they were able to start home again, Rover coming in for muchpraise from his waiting so patiently for such a lengthy period outsideMrs Craddock's cottage, without bark or whine betraying his presencethere. 

The dinner was not late, much to Bob's joy; and, the Captain being alsopunctuality itself, they set out for the beach, just when the dimshadows of the fading twilight were mingling with those of night. 

There was a stiff breeze blowing from the southward and eastward, almosthalf a gale, as a sailor would express it, the wind causing the incomingtide to break on the shore with a low, dull roar, as if the spirit ofthe deep felt half inclined to be angry, and yet had not quite made uphis mind!

It was almost dark by the time the little party from "the Moorings"reached the wreck, and things were beginning to get indistinct a littledistance off; but, soon after their arrival on the spot, the silverymoon rising at the full, passing through occasional strata of dark cloudthat veiled her light at intervals, illumined the sky with her weirdbeams, making it bright as day, but with a ghostly radiance that lent amystic spectral effect to all the surroundings. 

What a difference the vessel presented to her appearance of the morning!

Then she was high and dry on the shingle, with the retreating tide goingout to sea to flood coasts elsewhere, only indicating that it had notquite gone yet by a faint splash and ripple on the shore; and, desertedby the element that should have supported her and did when she moved andhad her being, gliding through the waters "like a thing of life, " thewretched steamer stood up so gaunt and grim that she seemed more thantwice her natural size. 

That was in the morning, barely twelve hours ago! But, now, where wasshe? The tell-tale light of the moon explained all, without a wordbeing wanted. 

At first no doubt, the breakers!--how aptly named!--had begun theirattack against the poor crippled thing's hull by degrees, little billowsleading the assault that could only leap half-way up the side of thestranded steamer, falling back with impotent mutterings in a passion ofspray; then, as the tide rose, these were succeeded by bigger wavesrolling in from the eastwards, which, swollen with pride and brimmingwith destruction, beat and blustered all about the vessel from cutwaterto sternpost, seeking ingress through the timbers that they might fallupon her and devour her. 

Through it all the poor _Bembridge Belle_ battled bravely, holding herown as long as she could keep her head above the boisterous billows;but, when the tide rose yet higher, and the waters flowed through herfore and aft, her upper deck became submerged, the sea made a cleanbreach over her, the waves took her in their rough hands and shook herso that she trembled, her hull working to and fro in the shingle, theblustering billows dashed against her, and she began to break up. Theloose upper or hurricane-deck parted. Then the contents of the mainsaloon below, of which this deck formed the roof, commenced washingadrift, the broken water round the deck pitching and tossing aboutcushions and chairs, flaps of tables, and all sorts of pieces offurniture, some of which were cast up ashore near by, and others carriedout by the tide to goodness knows where!

The Captain and Mrs Gilmour, with Bob and Nell, and Dick and Rover, too, watched this sad ending of the steamer's career with almost asheavy hearts as if they were her owners. Rover, indeed, took such avery deep interest in her that he assisted Hellyer and the othercoastguardsmen on duty at the spot by helping them bravely in draggingout of the clutches of the waves everything that floated near enoughinshore for him to jump at and seize. 

"We'd better go home now, " said the Captain, when the vessel separatedamidships, her funnel and masts falling over into the water. "There'snothing more to see now, poor old ship!"

He spoke quite sadly, as if he had lost a friend; and the others, too, seemed equally affected by the scene, even Bob turning his back on thebeach without a murmur at their going indoors so early, as he wouldotherwise have done; this being the young gentleman's usual plaint. But, if depressed for the moment, on reaching "the Moorings" thethermometer of their spirits jumped suddenly to fever-heat. 

Sarah, "the good Sarah, " opened the door, as she usually did; but sheappeared to perform the task on the present occasion with even more thanher usual alacrity, while her face wore a pleased expression that hadnot visited it since the composition of that celebrated poem in honourof her memory! She actually beamed with delight and looked "bursting, aye, bursting with good news!" as the Captain said afterwards. 

"Why, whatever is the matter, Sarah?" asked Mrs Gilmour. "Speak, mygood girl!"

She paid no attention, however, to her mistress. 

"Oh, Master Bob--oh, Miss Nell!" she exclaimed. "Who do you think havecome, and is now in the house?"

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 

ON BOARD THE OLD "VICTORY. "

Bob and Nellie both stared at Sarah in surprise. 

They thought, for the moment, the poor girl had lost her wits!

An inkling of the truth, however, flashed across their minds the nextinstant; and, pushing past the almost incoherent Sarah, who saidsomething which neither of them caught the sense of, the two rushed intothe lighted hall in a flurry of excitement. 

Here the sight of several corded trunks and other luggage, which had notbeen there when they went out of the house earlier in the evening, atonce confirmed their joyous anticipations. 

"Hurrah!" cried Bob, giving vent to his feelings first. "Dad and motherare here at last!"

Nell, though, got ahead of him in greeting the new-comers. 

"Oh, mamma!" she said, dashing towards the door of the dining-room whichopened into the hall and meeting half-way a stately lady who wasadvancing with open arms. "My own dear mamma!"

The Captain and Mrs Gilmour had now come into the hall, following moresedately the harum-scarum youngsters; and while the former hung back, waiting to be introduced as soon as the first greetings were over, thegood lady of the house advanced eagerly to welcome a tall and beardedgentleman, with a right good pair of broad shoulders of his own, whocame forward to meet her, with Bob clinging to one of his arms while theother was round his neck. 

"Why, me dear Dugald, it's never you!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour as herbrother let go Bob and caught both her outstretched hands in his, givingthem a fraternal grip. "Sure, is it yoursilf, or somebody ilse?"

"Mesilf, Polly, sure enough, " replied he in a deep baritone voice, thatresembled Bob's, but had a very slight suspicion of the Irish brogue init like her own. "Right glad am I to say ye again, too, mavourneen!Ye're a sight good for sore eyes, sure!"

He laughed as he said this, a racy, genial laugh in keeping with hislooks; and the Captain instantly took a liking to him for his own sake, apart from his likeness to his sister, Mrs Gilmour, who now introducedhim, having already prepossessed the old sailor in his favour. 

"Me brother--Captain Dresser, " she said smiling. "I'm sure you ought toknow each other by this time, if you don't already!"

"Glad to meet you, sir, glad to meet you, " cried the Captain in hisbluff hearty way. "I've often heard of you, especially since Master Bobhere has been down at Southsea. "

"Ah! I have to thank you for the kind way in which you've made theirstay here pleasant for him and my little girl, " rejoined the otherwarmly as the two shook hands. "But, there was little need, CaptainDresser, for my sister to introduce you. She's told me so much aboutyou, that I seem to have known you already for years!"

"Oh, yes, " said the Captain; "your sister is one of my oldest friends. "

"What's that you're saying about my being an old friend?" exclaimed MrsGilmour, pretending to be indignant. "You speak as if I were an agedperson; but, I'd have you to know, that, although I'm not quite achicken, sure, I'm not as old as old Methuselah yet!"

"No, no, I didn't mean that, " chuckled the Captain; and turning to herbrother he remarked on the likeness between him and Mrs Gilmour. "Itis absolutely striking, by Jove!"

"We're almost twins, " replied he innocently; "only, I'm ten yearsolder!"

The Captain burst into a regular roar of laughter at this; his sidesshaking and his face getting so red that it seemed as if he were goingto have a fit of apoplexy. 

"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "you ought to be twins!"

It was only then that the other perceived the slip he had made, as didhis sister, and the two joined in the Captain's mirth; while Master Bobalso lent his help, although witless of what the general merriment wasabout, the deep ho-ho-ho! of his father being even more contagious thanthe catching laugh of his old friend the Captain. 

"Sure, Dugald, you're the same careless fellow still, " cried MrsGilmour, as soon as she was able to get out a word. "As me poor dearTed used to say, you're an Irishman to the backbone. Sure you neveropen your mouth but you put your foot in it!"

"That is what I'm always telling him, too, " said her sister-in-law, whomthe laughter in the hall, renewed with such force when Mrs Gilmour, intrying to set matters straight, made another Irish bull as big as herbrother's, had brought out of the parlour, accompanied by Nellie. "Dugald is really incorrigible!"

"That's just what Mrs Gilmour says I am, " observed the Captain, bowingbetween his chuckles. "You must let me introduce myself. I don't needanybody to introduce you, ma'am; for I'm sure from your sweet soft voicealone that you are little missy's mother. She and I, you know, aresworn friends!"

Mrs Strong smiled; and, if the Captain had called her voice a sweetone, he could find no words in which to describe the light that stoleinto her eyes, irradiating the face now. 

"I see you can pay compliments, Captain Dresser, although you are not anIrishman, " she said pleasantly, caressing Nell, who in the joy of seeingher mother again had never left her side. "I suppose that's the reasonthis young lady has lost her heart to you?"

"You'd better be wary of him, Edith, " interposed Mrs Gilmour jokingly. "He's a terrible old flirt with all the ladies, young and old alike!But, wouldn't you like to go upstairs and take your things off?"

"No, thanks, not till it's time for bed; and, it must be very near thatnow. "

"Oh, the day's yet young!" cried her hospitable hostess, leading the wayback into the parlour. "We didn't expect you before to-morrow, or nextday at the earliest; and Nell, indeed, stopped in all the morning tofinish her letter in time, so that you could get it to-night in London, as she thought. Still, my dear, I dare say we'll be able to find yousomething to eat, and your rooms shall be got ready for you as soon aspossible. "

"Please, mum, " said Sarah, who was still waiting in the hall, at handfor whatever the guests might need, "they are quite ready, mum!"

"Ready!" repeated Mrs Gilmour surprised. "The spare rooms?"

"Yes, mum, " replied Sarah, dropping a curtsey, with the proudconsciousness of having done well in her mistress's sight. "Me andMolly went up to the rooms and did what you told me I'd have to do to-morrow, as soon as ever Mr and Mrs Strong came, mum; so now they'requite ready. Molly, too, went back afterwards to her kitchen, and iswarming up the curry, in case you should like it hot for supper. "

"You've done quite right, Sarah, and just as I would have directed ifI'd been at home. Tell Molly from me, that there is nothing my brotheris fonder of than curry; and that she may send up supper as soon asshe's got it ready. "

Sarah hurried off to quicken the preparations of her fellow-servantbelow, her movements somewhat accelerated by Bob shouting out the cruelrefrain of the "forget-me-not poem!"

"Ah, but, " put in the Captain, "the `good Sarah' did not forget her headthis time, at any rate! You'll have to alter your poem, Master Bob!"

Then, of course, ensued a lot of explanations, which led up to anaccount of the picnic, the elaborate description of which Nellie hadtaken such pains to write in her letter home to her mother. 

All of which pains, alas! were thrown away; for here was her mother byher side, while her graphic letter was lying uselessly in the box at thepost-office!

A series of questions and answers then followed rapidly in reference toBob and Miss Nell's doings since they had been down by the sea;interspersed with sundry inquiries after Blinkie, the old dissipatedjackdaw left behind at home, and Snuffles, the black cat, who was amartyr to chronic influenza, whence his very appropriate name!

Rover, who was wild with delight on seeing his old master and mistresswhen he came in damp and dripping from his experiences of the wreck, wasnot altogether forgotten, you may be sure, just because London friendswere thought of! On the contrary, he received many pats and caressesbesides getting an unexpected supper; a thing not generally in Rover'sline, but which, none the less, did not seem to come amiss to him on thepresent occasion. 

By this time, it was very late, the "tattoo" having sounded long since, summoning all truant soldiers into barracks; so, the Captain, declaringthat his landlady would "haul him over the coals" for stopping out solate, stumped away chuckling down the parade with his malacca cane. 

The exhausted household at "the Moorings" then went to bed in peace, tired out with their day's doings--tired even of talk--Bob and Nellcomposing in their dreams a fresh version, as the old sailor hadhumorously suggested, of Sarah's celebrated picnic poem; in which, instead of their original quatrain, "bed" now rhymed with "head, " inlieu of the unfortunately forgotten "bread, " and "curry" with "hurry!"

The next day, both Mr and Mrs Dugald Strong said that they were toofatigued to do anything else save lie in the sun and bask on the beach;but the following morning, the Captain, insisting on their seeing thesights of the place, took them all down to the harbour, when they wenton board the _Victory_, Nelson's old flagship, which Mrs Gilmour saidshe had been over "at laste a hundred times before, " although sheaccompanied them now "for company's sake, sure!"

If a hackneyed theme to her, this visit to the historic vessel was, however, replete with interest to the others; being full of floatingmemories of the past, in which the grand figure of the hero of Trafalgarstood out in relief with that wonderfully blood-stirring last signal ofhis, like a laurel wreath encircling his brows-- "England expects everyman this day to do his duty!"

To Bob and Nellie it was especially delightful to see the real ship inwhich Nelson had fought so gallantly that battle of which they had read, knowing, by heart almost, the principal incidents of the glorious day, when the British fleet "crumpled up the combined squadrons of France andSpain"; and, with the able assistance of the Captain, who made anadmirable cicerone, they could, standing there on board the _Victory_, imagine themselves in the thick of the celebrated sea-fight. Aye, boarding the _Santissima Trinidada_, with the guns banging about themand the sulphurous gunpowder-smoke filling the air around, hidingeverything beyond the ponderous hulls of the enemy's three-deckersbetween which, yard-arm to yard-arm, the old _Victory_ lay!

"Here it was, " said the Captain, pointing out the spot on the quarter-deck below the poop, close to a hatchway, and marked by a copper platelet into the planking, bearing a short inscription commemorating thefact, "that Nelson was standing when that villainous marksman in the_Redoutable's_ mizzen-top hit him, catching sight of the medals on hisbreast; for, he would stick 'em on, in spite of the advice of Hardy, whowas his flag-captain, you know. "

"That was very foolish of him, " interposed Mrs Gilmour. "I suppose hedid it to show off, like most of you men; for you're a consayted lot!The same as you punish your malacca cane, Captain!"

"Not a bit of it!" retorted the old sailor indignantly, up in arms atonce at the slightest aspersion on his hero's fame. "He wore his medalsbecause, ma'am, in the first place, he wasn't a bit ashamed of them;and, secondly, to encourage his men--there, ma'am!"

"That's a settler for you, Polly!" said her brother quizzingly; but, hedidn't laugh, the Captain appeared so very much in earnest in speakingof Nelson, whom he regarded with the deepest veneration. "I don'tthink, my dear, though, it's a subject for joking!"

"I'm very sorry I spoke, sure, " pleaded she in extenuation of heroffence, "I didn't mean any harm!"

"Well, well, let it pass, " replied the Captain, dismissing the painfulpoint in dispute with a wave of his arm and continuing his descriptionof the tragic end of the conqueror of Trafalgar, which Mrs Gilmour'sinterruption had somewhat confused in his mind. "We were just where hewas shot, eh?"

"Yes, " replied Bob, who had been hanging on his words and was allattention and had not lost a word of the narrative. "The Frenchmarksman saw his medals. "

"Humph!" ejaculated the old sailor, "making sail again with a fairwind, " as he expressed it in his nautical way. "Well, then, the fellowwho shot him was potted immediately afterwards, you'll be glad to hear, by one of our `jollies'--marines, you know--on the poop, who saw thechap aiming at Nelson, but fired too late to prevent the fatal leadenmessenger doing its deadly work! The poor Admiral sank down here, justby that hatchway, and there used to be the stain of his blood, as theysaid, on the old timbers of the deck; but those have been removed, and, indeed, they've restored the ship so often that there's hardly one ofher old planks left in her save this with the memorial plate here. "

"But, what was done after Nelson was wounded?" inquired Nellie, who hadbeen listening as intently as Bob. "Didn't they do anything to helphim?"

"Why, they took him down to the cock-pit, as they called themidshipmen's berth on the lower deck, where we're going now, " repliedthe Captain, leading the way down the companion and an interminableseries of other ladders afterwards, as if they were descending to thekelson, the space getting all the narrower and darker as they went down. "They took him below--to die!"

Here, in a small, confined apartment, which Bob's father said looked"like the condemned cell at Newgate, " and whose sole apparent advantage, as the Captain explained, was in its being below the water-line, andtherefore the only safe place in a ship before the days of torpedoes andsubmarine warfare, he went on to tell the children, the hero breathedhis last; his dying moments eased by the knowledge that he had done hisduty to his country and cheered by the news that the foe was vanquished, Hardy making him smile by saying how many ships of the line had strucktheir colours already or been destroyed. Nell shivered. 

"Let us go upstairs, " she said, in a very depressed tone, in keepingwith the melancholy associations of the place. "Let us go upstairs!"

The Captain laughed out at this. 

"You'd make a sailor faint, if he heard you ever use that expression!"he cried. "The idea of speaking about `upstairs' on board a ship, andyour uncle a sailor, too, missy!"

"What should I say?" she asked, looking into his face as well as the dimlight would permit. "What should I say instead?"

"Why, `on deck, ' of course, " he replied. "We've got no stairs on boardship. They're either `companion-ways' or `ladders, ' up one of whichwe'll go now, if you like!"

So saying, he led the way on deck as he had down below, taking them allinto the ward-room under the poop, where they now saw various relics ofthe hero, besides letters and orders in his writing, which were framedand hung round the cabin like pictures. 

Bob, whose calligraphy was none of the clearest or most legible, had thebenefit of a little moral lesson here from his father, who seemed totake a mean advantage of the fact of Nelson writing so well with hisleft hand after he lost his right; but Master Bob evaded the issue verywell by saying that "when he was similarly circumstanced, " he would tryand write as well, too!

"Bravo!" cried the Captain, as they left the ship, going down the"accommodation-ladder, " which, as he was careful to tell Nellie, was nota staircase either, although outside the ship. Then, turning to herfather he added, chuckling-- "That boy of yours, Strong, is a regularchip of the old block, and a credit to your country!"

They had a laugh at this, of course; and, then, on Mrs Gilmoursuggesting their taking advantage of the high tide to visit PorchesterCastle, as the harbour looked its best, the watermen in charge of theirwherry were directed to row up stream towards the creek on the northernside, where the old fortress, embowered in trees, nestled under theshelter of the Portsdown hills, a monolith of past grandeur and presentdecay!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

A STEAM TRIAL, AND A GUN-BURST. 

On their way up the harbour, the Captain pointed out the long line ofold hulks moored on either side of the stream that had once, when intheir prime, been esteemed the pride of the Navy. 

With towering masts and gallant rig they had flown the flag that hasborne the battle and the breeze for many a long year. 

But, within the last decade, their glory has departed, alas, like theglories of "Rotten Row, " as this anchorage of broken-down ships iscalled; many of the old historic vessels having been sold out of theservice and their places know them no more!

"Ah, these are something like `Roman remains'!" exclaimed CaptainDresser, when their wherry ultimately glided up to the ruins ofPorchester Castle, the base of whose swelling walls was laved by therippling tide. "That `villa' at Brading was a regular take-in, and Ishall always regret that half-crown in hard cash, out of which I wasswindled!"

"Sure, I don't think you'll ever forget that day, " cried Mrs Gilmour, laughing as she explained the matter more lucidly to her brother andsister-in-law. "Just as Queen Mary said that Calais would be foundengraved on her heart after she was dead, the Roman villa at Bradingwill be found graven on yours, Captain, sure!"

"I don't mind, " said he resignedly, "I like something for my money; and, here, there is something to see and nothing to pay for it either!"

The boatmen rowed the boat close inshore in order to allow them toinspect the place nearer, as they did not have sufficient time to landand examine it properly. Mrs Gilmour, while they laid off making thusa cursory inspection of the ruins, became the castle's historian--telling how the Romans originally built the fortress on their invasionof England over eighteen hundred years ago, styling it "Portus Magnus, "or "the great port, " it being situated on a tongue of land commandingthe approaches to their encampments in the interior of the country--theharbour being then more open to the sea than it now is. 

"Aye, " corroborated the Captain. "It has silted up considerably, evenin my time, in spite of continual dredging. "

"The Saxons afterwards called the place Portceaster, whence its presentname `Porchester, '" continued the narrator; "and, subsequently, thestronghold has played an important part in history, from the days ofCanute up to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. "

"That's something at any rate!" interposed the Captain. "More than youcan say for the Brading villa!"

"You mustn't interrupt, sure, " said Mrs Gilmour, tapping him with herparasol as her brother laughed, exchanging winks with the old sailor. "After the time of good Queen Bess, however, the castle is not memorablefor much in its history till we come to the early part of the presentcentury; when it was used as a depot for the prisoners taken in theFrench war, some eight or ten thousand being incarcerated within itswalls at one time!"

"What a lot!" cried Bob. "It must have cost a heap of money to keepthem in food, auntie?"

"It did, `a lot, ' my dear, " replied his aunt, adopting his favouriteword. "Several men with names distinguished in the Revolution wereconfined here, among them being the Irish general Tate, who led thatridiculous invasion of this country planned by Buonaparte, which wasrouted by a body of Welsh women at Fishguard. "

"Hurrah for the sex!" interrupted the Captain again, Mr Strong joiningin his cheer, while the boatmen grinned. "More power to theirpetticoats!"

Mrs Gilmour only smiled at this, not venturing to explain that theinvaders mistook the red-cloaked, tall-hatted women of the Principality, who were ranged along the crests of their native mountains, for Britishregiments on the march to annihilate them; and so, capitulated to avoidcapture!

"One of the most comical characters imprisoned in the castle, " she wenton, "was a seaman named Francois Dufresne, who was a regular JackSheppard in the way of breaking out of confinement. "

"Oh!" exclaimed Bob, pricking up his ears at the mention of the notedcelebrity of the Newgate Calendar. "That's jolly! What did he do, auntie?"

"Why, he would, for a mere frolic or for a trifling wager, seals thewalls of the castle under the very eye; of the sentries, making his wayinto the woodlands on the north of Portsdown Hill, where he would rambleat large, stealing all the eggs and fowls he could lay his hands on. Hehad, as he explained, a great weakness for poultry. "

"By Jove, I can quite excuse him, " said the Captain in his funny way. "I'm partial to a chicken, myself!"

"So am I, too, " remarked Mrs Strong. "It was only what might be called`an amiable weakness' on his part, considering that probably the poorprisoners were not too well fed. "

"They were not, my dear Edith, " replied her sister-in-law, "if allaccounts be true; for the French Government complained of their beinghalf-starved! However, be that as it may, Dufresne used to plunder awayamongst the cottagers, until their anger at losing their stock led tohis recapture and remission to durance vile. Once he actually made hisway to London; when, calling at the house of the `French Commissioner'there, who was the agent for all the prisoners of the war, he procured adecent dress and a passport, with which he presented himself again atPorchester and made a triumphant return to his prison!"

"The governor must have been surprised, " said Bob. "Wasn't he, auntie?"

"He was, " assented his aunt. "Very much surprised, my dear. "

"Did they punish him for escaping?" asked Nell. "I don't think theyought to have, as he came back. "

"No, I don't think they did, " replied Mrs Gilmour. "But, my dear, Ithink I've told you enough now of the castle and all belonging to it, and must really stop, for it's time for us to be going back. "

"Indeed we must, ma'am, " said the Captain, "that is, if we're going overthe Victualling Yard. "

"What, more sight-seeing!" exclaimed Mrs Strong in a voice of despair. "Can't you let us off doing any more to-day?"

"Well, ma'am, " pleaded the Captain apologetically, "only just one placemore and you will then have `killed all the lions'; that is, all savethe Dockyard, which Master Bob will have to tell you about. "

"Do let us go, mamma! I do so want to see them making the biscuits. They do it all by machinery, just fancy!" said Nellie coaxingly. "Do, let us go, please, won't you?"

"Do, please, " also pleaded Bob, "it will be so very jolly!"

"I suppose I must give in, " sighed his mother. "Oh, Captain Dresser, Captain Dresser, you have a good deal to answer for!"

The old sailor only chuckled in response; and, giving the necessaryorders to the boatmen, the wherry, which had come down rapidly fromPorchester, the tide having turned and being now on the ebb, was pulledin to the Gosport shore, its passengers landing at Clarence Yard, thegreat food depot of the Navy. 

Here they saw all that was to be seen, gazing with wonder at the vaststores of things eatable accumulated for the service of the fleet--Boband Miss Nell being particularly interested in the bread-factory andbakery, where the attendant who showed them over the place completedtheir satisfaction by filling their respective pockets with the curioushexagonal-shaped biscuits there made, "thus provisioning them, " as theCaptain said, "for the remainder of their stay. "

They crossed back from Gosport to Portsmouth by the floating bridge, which, of course, Bob wanted to know all about, the Captain explainingto him how it was fixed on two chains passing through the vessel andmoored on either shore, so as to prevent the "bridge" from being swayedby the action of the tide, which runs very strongly in and out of theharbour at the point of its passage. 

"But how does the bridge move?" asked the inquiring Bob, full ofquestions as usual. "I can't see how it can, if it be chained up likeRover!"

"There is a steam-engine in the centre of the vessel, as you can see foryourself, there, " replied the Captain, pointing to the funnels that boreout his statement. "This engine works a pair of vertical wheels insidethat casing between the two divisions of the boat; and these wheels, which are each some eight feet in diameter and cogged, wind in thechains at one end, paying them out at the other. "

"I see, " said Bob; and the floating bridge having by this time reachedits terminus at the Portsmouth side of the water, they all steppedashore and made their way home, Mrs Strong declaring that she had had"enough of going about, for one day at least!"

In spite of her exertions, however, she was none the worse for themafter dinner; being able, indeed, to accompany the others down to thebeach, Rover now forming one of the party, and magnanimously forgivinghis young master for leaving him behind all day in the house while hewent gallivanting about sight-seeing, albeit Dick's company and Sarah'skindness in the way of tit-bits somewhat made amends to the poor dog forthe neglect of the truant Bob. 

"By the way, " said the Captain to the latter, on taking his leave in theevening after escorting them back to "the Moorings, " "you mustn't forgetthe trial of the _Archimedes_ to-morrow, my boy. Captain Sponson toldme the other day at the Club that she'd go out of harbour at nineo'clock sharp in the morning!"

"Oh, I'll remember, " replied Bob. "Where will she start from, Captain?"

"Why, from Coaling Point, at the further end of the Dockyard; so we'llhave to be under weigh half-an-hour earlier, " cried the old sailor fromthe doorstep. "You had better call at my place, as it is on the way. Mind you're not later than 8:30 sharp, or she'll be off without you!"

"I'll be there in time, never fear, " was Bob's response as the Captainbade him "Good-night!" and stumped off homeward. "I'll be in time!"

Poor Rover!

He was doomed to another day of desertion; for, much to his surprise, his young master, instead of taking him down to the sea as usual in themorning, started off alone, and without his towels, too, which puzzledRover more than anything else. 

Dogs have their feelings, similarly to other people; and so, his browneyes filled with tears as he watched Bob rushing out of the house, in aterrible hurry lest he might keep the Captain waiting, or even, indeed, be too late altogether--with never a word for him save a peremptory, "Lie down, Rover; I can't take you with me; lie down, sir!"

It was really too bad of Bob!

In consequence of this unhandsome treatment, it may be likewise added, Rover's tail, which he generally carried in a jaunty fashion, with thetrifle of a twist to one side, as became a dog of his degree and onemoving in the best canine society, now drooped down between his legs--ofa verity it almost touched the ground!

This made the deserted animal look such a picture of misery that, onNell's drawing her aunt's attention to him, the good lady of the housenot only spoke sympathising words unto him, to which the sad dog repliedby ever so feeble a wag of his drooping tail; but Mrs Gilmour also, sanctioned, nay, even directed, his being entertained with a basin ofhot bread-and-milk served up on the best dining-room carpet, an eventunparalleled in the annals of "the Moorings!"

Bob meanwhile, with never a thought of Rover, was proceeding across theDockyard with the Captain, who hobbled painfully over the knobblypaving-stones with which that national institution is ornamented, anathematising at every step he took the rulers of the "Queen's Navee, "who put him thus to unnecessary pain. 

"I can't think how, in a Christian land, people's poor feet should be somercilessly disregarded!" he exclaimed, on giving his favourite corn anextra pinch between two projecting boulders--"I'd like to make `myLords' of the Admiralty do the goose-step regularly here for four hoursa day; and then, perhaps, there'd be a chance of a poor creature beingenabled to walk about the place in comfort!"

Notwithstanding the instruments of torture in the shape of paving-stonesof which the Captain complained, and justly, he and Bob just managed toreach the _Archimedes_ before she cast-off from the jetty alongside ofwhich she had been coaling, the two only having time to jump on board asthe gangway connecting her with the shore was withdrawn. Another momentand they would have been too late; for "time and tide, " and ships goingout on trial, wait for no man, or boy either. 

However, there they were, "better late than never, " Bob thought, and hethought further, too, as he gazed round the deck of the ironclad, whichwas somewhat begrimed with coal-dust, and about the ugliest and mostmis-shapen monster imaginable, "Can I really be on board a ship?"

He was, though; and, presently, the sound of the escape steam, that hadpreviously been roaring up through the rattling funnels, ceased; whilethe fan-blades of the screw-propeller began to revolve, surging up thewater of the open dock in which the vessel lay into a mass of foam, andcreating, so to speak, a sort of "tempest in a teapot. "

Then, a couple of attendant tugs sent their tow-ropes aboard, so as tocheck and guide the unwieldy leviathan in her progress through thedeeper channels of the harbour which ships of heavy draught have to taketo get out to sea; and "going easy, " little by little, with anoccasional stop, as some impertinent craft or other got into thefairway, they finally reached Spithead. 

"What is that funny red vessel coming down to us for?" inquired Bob, pointing out a dandy-rigged yawl that just then rounded-up under thestern of the _Archimedes_, laying-to a little way off. "She's comingalongside, I think. "

"That's the powder-hoy, " replied the Captain. "She's brought theammunition for our big guns here. "

"And why is she painted red?" asked Bob again--"eh?"

"Just for the same reason that danger-signals on railways and warningflags are always red, " said the other. "I suppose because the colour ismore glaring and likely to be taken notice of; and no doubt, too, that'swhy our soldiers are clothed in scarlet so that they can be all the morereadily potted by the enemy?"

"You are pretty right there, Captain Dresser!" said, laughingly, a youngnaval officer standing near, who kindly took all further trouble off theCaptain's hands in the way of answering Bob's questions and showing himround the ship, the machinery of which especially charmed him, being somuch more imposing and complicated than that of the poor _BembridgeBelle_, which had interested him only yesterday, so to speak, though nowwashed to pieces by the relentless sea!

The movements of the eccentric aroused Bob's chief wonder, the twopiston-rods connected with it and guiding the motion appearing in theirworking like the crooked limbs of a bandy-legged giant "jumping up anddown, " as he expressed it, "in a hoppety-kickety dance. "

Bob was called up from the engine-room by an extraordinary sound thatproceeded apparently from the deck above. 

This, as he ascended, grew louder and louder; until it became to himreally awesome. 

"What is that?" he asked the young lieutenant, who had accompanied himbelow and now followed him up, keeping close to his side. "Has anythinghappened, sir?"

"No, nothing's happened, " replied the young officer, who was a bit of awag. "That is our steam siren. "

"What is that, sir?" said Bob again--"I don't understand you. "

"It's the siren, " explained the other, "a thing like the steam-whistle, for signalling to passing ships. "

"It makes an awful row, " cried Bob. "Don't you think so, sir?"

"It does, " said the lieutenant laughing. "A great row!"

"Why do they call it a siren, though?" inquired the insatiable Bob. "The `sirens' I've read of in my lessons at school used to be mermaidsthat sang so sweetly and made such beautiful music, as they played ontheir harps or lyres, that they lured poor mariners to destruction!"

"But doesn't our siren make beautiful music?" asked the lieutenant in ajoking way. "It is loud, it is true; but don't you think it sweet?"

"No, " answered Bob, most emphatically. "It isn't! It is more like athousand wild bulls all with the toothache and roaring with pain!"

"That's not a bad description, " said the other, laughing heartily again. "Hullo, though, they are going to fire now! Don't you see they've justrun up a red flag on that spar we have forward as an apology for amast?"

"I see, " replied Bob, concentrating his attention on the preparationsbeing made around for testing the machine-guns and larger weapons withwhich the vessel was armed, long cylindrical shot, ribbed with brassbands, being piled by the side of the various batteries, and nicely-madecases of cartridges placed ready for the hoppers of the Nordenfeldts andGatlings. "How awfully jolly!"

The _Archimedes_, after taking her ammunition on board, had steamed outseaward so as to get a good offing where she might fire her guns withoutthe risk of hitting any passing craft; and, by the time Bob had come ondeck again from inspecting the machinery, she was well beyond the Nablight and far out into the waters of the Channel. 

On the order being presently given to fire, the machine-guns wentpopping away, to test how many shots they can fire off in a minute--thereport of some of them sounding like an asthmatic old gentleman with avery bad cough. 

"What a funny noise!" cried Bob--"Rover barks just the same when he'sasleep and dreaming!"

"Indeed!" said the young lieutenant, more intent, however, on watching aparty of blue-jackets getting ready a big gun for firing in the bowsthan paying much attention to Bob. "Look out there, youngster!"

"What are they going to do, eh?" asked Bob--"all those sailors there!"

"Why, fire one of our forty-three ton guns; so you'd better look out forsqualls. Have you got any cotton-wool about you?"

"No, " answered Bob. "What for?"

"To put in your ears, so as to deaden the noise of the report, " said thelieutenant. "I've got some, though, so it doesn't matter. Here's a bitto stick in your ears--you'd better take my advice, it'll save yourtympanum!"

Bob did not know what he meant; but he put the cotton-wool in his ears, as desired, on seeing Captain Dresser and some other officers standingnear doing the same, and that the lieutenant was not "taking a rise outof him, " as at first he was inclined to think. 

The enormous gun, carrying a charge of two hundred and eighty pounds ofpowder, with a shot weighing nearly a quarter of a ton, was now loaded;when the officer directing the operation ordered all persons to moveaway from the vicinity of the weapon, which was about to be fired forthe first time--at least on board the _Archimedes_. 

Everybody retreated behind the armoured screen bulkhead that formed asort of "shelter trench" across the deck; for, if an accident shouldhappen in the way of an unexpected explosion, refuge might be had therefrom any flying fragments. 

Everybody, as has been said, at once, on the order being given, soughtthis retreat--everybody, that is, but Bob, who, instead of stepping backlike the others, stepped forwards. 

At the same moment the signal was given, "Fire!"

A terrific report followed, as if the ship and all its contents wereblown up, there being none of the reverberating sound, like that usuallyheard when heavy guns are fired, as of an express train rushing at speedthrough the air; but a dull, hollow, sullen, sharp roar, succeeded bythe heavy swish of some body, or something, falling into the wateralongside, while a thick smoke hung over the deck like a pall. 

"By Jingo!" exclaimed the Captain, "the gun has burst!"

CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

BOB GETS "BLOWN UP. "

The unexpected explosion, though, caused no confusion, nor indeed anyapparent excitement such as would have at once occurred had the accidenthappened on shore; for, thanks to the admirable discipline alwaysobserved on board a man-of-war that flies the glorious old Union Jack, not a man stirred from his station. 

It was only through the unusual stillness that prevailed for a moment ortwo afterwards, that those not on deck became aware that something outof the common had occurred. 

"Anybody hurt?" sang out, presently, the officer commanding the shipfrom the bridge, near the conning tower, where he had been directing hersteering--"Anybody hurt there, forrud?"

"No, sir, " promptly replied the gunnery lieutenant in charge of thefiring-party, who was standing close by the exploded gun. "Not a soul, sir!"

"Thank God!" said the other in a tone of deep feeling, the anxiousexpression clearing from his face. "It's a wonderful escape!"

It was--and more. It was a merciful interposition of Providence!

There were three flag-officers, four post-captains, and several othersof lesser rank, in addition to a number of blue-jackets in the immediateneighbourhood of the exploded gun when it burst; but, strange to say, although the muzzle of the weapon had been blown off completely from thechase at the trunnions, and some hundred-weight of the fragmentsscattered in all directions, many of them piercing the deck and screenbulkhead, every one fortunately escaped injury. 

While exchanging congratulations with the other officers, all at onceCaptain Dresser looked about him for Bob. 

But, nowhere was he to be seen in sight. 

"By Jove, he must have been blown overboard, and that was the splash inthe water I heard!" he exclaimed in alarm; and, turning to his friendthe young lieutenant, as they now advanced further forward to have anearer view of the still smoking gun, he said, "Where, Neville, did youlast see the boy?"

"There!" replied the young officer, pointing to the ledge outside thebulkhead, just over the iron ladder-way that led down to the fo'c's'le, the scene of the accident. "He cannot well have fallen overboard fromthere!"

"No, " assented the Captain, doubtfully; still at a loss to account forBob's mysterious disappearance. "Where can the boy be, though?"

They were just about instituting an organised search through the ship, both in great anxiety; when, who should crawl up from below but themissing young gentleman!

Rover's look of dejection on being left behind at home in the morningwas nothing to that of his young master now; the latter appearing, fromhis blackened face and rumpled collar, not to speak of his soiled suitof flannels, so beautifully white and clean the moment before, to have"been in the wars" with a vengeance!

"Why, what have you been doing with yourself?" exclaimed the Captain, inblank dismay. "Where have you been?"

Albeit dilapidated in his general exterior, Bob had not lost his voice;his powers of speech being happily still unimpaired. 

"I'm all right, " he answered with an attempt at a grin. "I'm allright!"

"But where have you been?" repeated the Captain, whom this off-handstatement did not quite satisfy. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, I got blown up, " explained Bob. "When the gun fired I felt anawful pain in my ears, as if somebody was running a red-hot needlethrough them going right down to my boots!"

"You must have long ears, youngster, " remarked the young lieutenantslily here. "Very long to reach so far!"

"I didn't mean that my ears went down to my boots, " replied Bob, rathernettled at the insinuation; and he then continued the account of hisexperiences of the explosion. "But, as I was saying, I first felt thispain; and then I seemed to be lifted off my feet, tumbling down thisladder here, and after that through a hole in the deck, amongst a lot ofcoal-dust and oil-cans, that messed my clothes a bit. "

"A bit?" queried the Captain, chuckling now with much satisfaction atseeing him unhurt--"I should say a good deal, judging by appearances, Master Bob!"

"Really?" said he surveying himself ruefully, turning and twisting so asto get a view of his back. "Well, I certainly am dirty, but I didn'tlook half so bad before I came up. "

"Ah, it's the light that does it, " observed the lieutenant, chaffinghim. "However, if you will go rolling in the coal-bunkers and makinglove to the engineer's oil-cans, you must take the consequences!"

"I didn't, " replied Bob indignantly. "You don't think I tumbled downthere on purpose, do you?"

"Perhaps not, " said the other, smiling. "But, pray remember, you weretold to keep away from the gun; and, if you had obeyed orders, youwouldn't have got into any mischief. "

"Well, let us be thankful it is no worse, " observed the Captaincheerily. "I hope you are not hurt, Bob, by your roll dawn thehatchway?"

"No, Captain, " he answered, brightening up again after the snub of thelieutenant anent his disobedience, "I fell on the coal-sacks quitesoftly and haven't got a scratch. "

"That's all right then, " echoed Captain Dresser in his joking way;adding to the young officer on his other side, "I wonder if all the`cocked hats' have done examining the gun, and whether there's a chancenow for an old retired fogey like myself having a look at the damage?"

"I should think so, sir, " replied the young officer. "The Admiral, Isee, has gone away, and the fellows also from the Ordnance department;so, you'd better come and have a glance round while the coast is clear. "

"I will, " was the response of the old sailor, as, in company with thelieutenant and Bob, he made his way through one of the watertight doorsin the forward bulkhead on to the fo'c's'le; the trio then groupingthemselves round the broken breech of the exploded weapon, all that wasleft now of the whilom big forty-three ton gun!

"Ah! I can see how it happened, " said the old sailor, after a cursoryinspection of the fractured portion. "The gun was strong enough at thebreech, but went at the muzzle. It has given way, of course, at itsweakest point. "

"Yes, " agreed the young lieutenant. "It has parted just here, where thelast protecting coil of steel has been shrunk on; the tube of the gunhas burst at this unprotected portion of it, right in front of thechase. "

"What's the reason, sir, " asked Bob, "of its bursting there like that?"

"I suppose because the metal was unable to withstand the strain of thepowder charge, " said the Captain. "So, Bob, it went!"

"Pardon me, but I don't think you've got it quite right, sir, " observedthe lieutenant apologetically. "The gun was strong enough for the old`pebble powder' it was originally intended to be fired with, the forceof whose explosion would have been expended in the breech, which youcan't say is weak?"

"No, " asserted the other, "the gun seems strong enough there. "

"Well, that being the case, " continued the young officer, "the gun mighthave been fired as many times as you please with the heaviest charges ofthat powder without its sustaining the slightest injury. Our wiseOrdnance people, however, having taken a fancy to a `slow combustionpowder, ' whose force, instead of being expended in the breech, issustained throughout the whole length of the gun, as the particles ofpowder ignite and expand, bethought themselves they would, forcheapness' sake, use this `cocoa powder, ' as it is called, without goingto the expense of building additional coils round their heavy guns toenable them to resist the extra strain!"

"So this is the result, " said the old Captain. "It's just like puttingnew wine into old bottles!"

"Precisely, " replied the lieutenant, joining in his laugh. "But, don'tyou feel hungry, Captain Dresser?"

"I do, " he promptly rejoined. "This sea air give; one the very deuce ofan appetite; and I confess to feeling slightly peckish. "

"So am I, " said the other, leading the way to the nearest hatchway. "Let us go down below and see what they've got for luncheon. Mind howyou step, it's all dark here, as they haven't fitted her up yet. "

"That's plain enough as I can feel!" muttered the Captain in reply as hestumbled against the projecting ledge of one of the watertightbulkheads, knocking his shin. "These new-fashioned ships are all atodds and ends, it seems to me, in their accommodation below. Give meone of the old sort, where everything was really plain sailing and onehadn't to dive down here and climb up there to get for'ard or aft!"

"Ah, " rejoined the lieutenant, holding out a hand to guide him, "you'dget used to it in time. "

"Just as the eels do to skinning!" growled the Captain, rubbing his soreshins. "I'd rather be excused the practice, though, on my part. "

Bob sniggered at this; and, passing along a narrow dark passage, itsobscurity rather increased than diminished by the solitary illuminatingpower of a single "dip" in a ship's lantern hung up against the side, the lieutenant stopped the Captain from any further grumbling byintroducing him into the ward-room, which, being well lit up with littleelectric lamps, offered a marked contrast to the other parts of thevessel they had traversed. 

To the Captain, indeed, it was like passing from purgatory to fairyland, as he said; the more so from the fact of his seeing a well-spread tablebefore him, and there being a savoury smell permeating the atmosphere. 

So, he took his seat with alacrity, prepared to do ample justice towhatever viands were brought forward. 

Bob, who came in a little later, his curiosity being attracted by thesight of the open torpedo-room adjacent, with its stores of Whiteheadtubes, gave the witty young surgeon, who was facing the door, anopportunity of cracking a joke at the expense of his smutty face, whichhe had been unable to wash since his tumble amongst the coals. 

"Hullo, Pompey!" cried out this worthy, who by the way had beenpreviously chaffed by his brother officers, such is the levity ofsailors in imminent peril, about the gun accident not having providedhim with any patients. "Hullo, Pompey, you've forgotten your banjo andbones!"

Bob did not see the point of the joke at first, although there was ageneral titter round the lower part of the table where the young surgeonwas seated; when Master Bob did, however, he blushed pretty red, lookinguncommonly sheepish. 

But the lieutenant came to his rescue. 

"He has left his bones behind advisedly, Phillips, " said he to the youngsurgeon, who was smiling still at his own witticism, "because he knew, if he brought them, you would only carve and saw them about as youserved those fossils at the hospital. "

This turned the laugh against the other, enabling Bob to sit down inpeace and enjoy his luncheon, during which he was much amused at the fungoing on amongst the junior officers at their end of the festive boardabout the splendid chances offered for promotion and "unfortunatelymissed" by the bursting cannon. 

"Just fancy!" observed one of those, speaking in an undertone, so thatthose of superior rank at the upper end of the table could not hear him. "Three `flags, ' four `posts, ' half-a-dozen commanders, and two `firstluffs, ' all within range of that blessed muzzle that carried away; andnot one vacancy on the list!"

"It's positively awful, " chimed in another, in cordial agreement withhis brother sub, "we may never have such a chance again!"

The Captain subsequently explained to Bob that they meant that had theseveral admirals and other officers of rank who stood behind the forty-three ton gun been killed or materially injured when it burst, thesethoughtless juniors believed they would have "received a step" on thelist, or in other words, would have been probably promoted--which Bobthought extremely wicked and reprehensible on their part. 

After the explosion, of course, there was no more gun-practice, the_Archimedes_ slowly making her way back to Spithead, and then intoharbour; the broken breech of the unfortunate weapon that had come togrief being carefully covered over with a piece of tarpaulin, so thatthose on board an Austrian frigate lying in the roadstead, which theironclad had to go by, should know nothing of the burst, at least frompassing observation. We do not like to show our failures to ourfriends--only our successes!

The Captain and Bob, naturally, got back all the sooner from the trialtrip of the _Archimedes_ being thus cut short, reaching "the Moorings, "indeed, just as Mrs Gilmour and her guests were going out for a strollbefore dinner; when, Rover pranced up to his young master, all affectionand oblivious of any "hard feelings" he might have entertained by beingleft behind in the morning, repeating his magnanimous conduct on aprevious occasion!

"By Jove!" cried the Captain jocularly, addressing Bob's father. "Thatson of yours is bound to turn out something great. "

"Really, what's he been doing now?"

"Why, " replied the old sailor with his customary chuckle, thumping thepavement with his malacca cane to give greater emphasis to his words, "he was half-drowned almost the first evening he came down here; waswrecked in the poor _Bembridge Belle_ the other afternoon; and now, tocomplete the category, has been blown up to-day. "

"Boys are like cats, " said the barrister smiling. "They all seemendowed with the same proverbial number of lives. "

"How funny, Bob, " observed Nellie here. "Papa says you're like a cat;so, you must be like Snuffles!"

Bob, however, did not appear to see the joke of this; though it affordedhis sister much amusement, which was increased anon by the Captainasking her a question. 

"I say, Miss Nell, " he cried out in his jocular way, chuckling thewhile, "what colour is this celebrated cat of yours, Snuffles?"

"He's black all over, Captain, " replied Nellie as distinctly as hergiggles would permit. "Only, he has four white paws, just as if he hadlamb's-wool socks on, like those mamma makes Bob wear in winter. "

"Humph!" snorted out the old sailor, his beady eyes twinkling with fireand his bushy eyebrows moving rapidly up and down. "If you had seenMaster Bob when he first emerged from the fore-peak of the _Archimedes_after his tumble through the fo'c's'le and roll amongst the coal-sacks, you would have thought him, missy, more like Snuffles than ever. Theonly drawback to the likeness was that Bob had but two paws instead offour, and that they were as black as his face!"

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Nellie, shrieking with laughter. "Do you hear that, mamma?"

"Aye, my dear, I'm not joking, " went on the Captain, his face now asgrave as a judge. "Do you know he was so black, that they mistook himfor one of the Christy minstrels when he came into the ward-roomafterwards!"

This finished poor Nell; even Bob, too, joining in the laugh againsthimself. 

CHAPTER TWENTY. 

TRAWLING OFF THE NAB. 

The same evening, while they were all on the pier, listening to theband, and chatting pleasantly together in the pauses between the music, Mrs Gilmour turned the conversation upon a matter of extreme interestto Master Bob, and one concerning which he had been in much doubt ofmind for some time past; although his native diffidence had preventedhim from personally broaching the subject in his own right. 

Sitting there within hail of the sea, the soft arpeggio of whose faintripple on the shore seemed to harmonise with the louder instrumentationof the orchestra, which was just then playing a selection from Weber's"Oberon, " the talk naturally drifted into a nautical channel; the oldsailor dilating, to the delight of his listeners, on the charms of alife afloat and the divine beauty of the ocean, whether in storm or atrest. 

"Aye, there's no life like it, " said he. "A life on the ocean wave!"

"It sounds nice in poetry, " observed the Irish barrister, who althoughfull of sentiment, like most of his countrymen, always tried to hide itunder a mask of comedy. "But, I think it must be a very up and downsort of existence. Too uncertain for me, at all events!"

"Oh, Dugald!" remonstrated his wife. "Why, this morning you wererhapsodising over the sea, and wishing you were able to spend your brieflife afloat. "

"My brief life, indeed!" exclaimed Mr Strong. "It's precious fewbriefs I get, or it would be more pleasant. I wish more of 'em wouldcome in, my dear, to pay for those children's shoes. They've worn outhalf-a-dozen pairs apiece, I believe, since they've been down here!"

"Better a shoemaker's bill, " said Mrs Gilmour, "than a doctor's, sure, me dear Dugald. "

"Aye, by Jove!" put in the Captain with a chuckle. "There's nothinglike leather, you know. "

"By the way, talking of that, though I don't mean to say it's made likethe old Britons' coracles, " observed Mrs Gilmour silly, "when is thatyacht of yours going to be ready, Captain?"

This unexpected inquiry made the old sailor blush a rosy red, for hisface was turned westwards towards the setting sun, and all could see itplainly; albeit, he tried to conceal his perturbation by drawing out hisbrilliant bandana handkerchief and blowing his nose vigorously--an oldtrick of his. 

"I--I--I'm having her done up, " he at length stammered out. "She wanteda lot of repair. "

"So I should think, " rejoined his persecutor, turning round to theothers. "You must know, good people, that I've been hearing of nothingbut this yacht for the last two years; and, would you believe it, I'venever seen her yet!"

"I assure you--, " began the Captain; but, alas! his enemy, in additionto being a host in herself, had allies of whom he little dreamt; and sohe was interrupted ere he could get at a second stammering "I assureyou!"

"Why, you promised, Captain, " said Nell mischievously, "the very firsttime we saw you in the train, to take us out for a `sail in your yacht';and I have been longing so much for it ever since. We thought that waswhat you meant when you said you were going to take us somewhere or dosomething that `to-morrow come never' as you called it!"

"You wicked man, to deceive the poor children so!" cried

Mrs Gilmour, shaking her finger at him. "Oh, you bad man!"

But, before he could answer a word, Bob, who had been waiting anxiouslyfor an opening, likewise assailed him. 

"Ah! Don't you remember, Captain, that day when you took Dick down tothe Dockyard to get him entered as a sailor boy on board the _SaintVincent_, and they wouldn't take him because he was too thin, you saidit didn't matter, for you would employ him on board your yacht when theracing season began? Why, Dick and I have been looking out for a sailever since. Don't you remember?"

"Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself, sure?" said Mrs Gilmour, following up Bob's flank attack; his father and mother enjoying thediscussion immensely, coupled as it was with the old sailor's comicalembarrassment. "Tell me, now, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

Taking off his hat and shoving his hands through his hair until heraised it up on the top of his head in a high ridge, he looked at histormentors appealingly; although, the merry twinkle in his bird-likeeyes took off somewhat from his contrition. 

"Do forgive me!" implored he in accents that had a very suspiciouschuckle about them. "I confess my sins!"

"You must clear yourself completely, sir, before you can hope to obtainabsolution for your sins of omission, " insisted Mrs Gilmour, pretendingto be very stern indeed. "Now, prisoner at the bar, answer truly, haveyou or have you not got a yacht?"

"I have, " he replied solemnly, entering into her humour. "By Jove, Ihave, ma'am!"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that at all events, " retorted his questioner inrather an injudicial way. "Sure, I didn't think you had one at all, nothaving seen it after all your talking about it. What sort of a yacht isit, now?"

"Only a half-decked little cutter of about two or three tons, " answeredthe Captain abjectly, trying to minimise his offence. "A very littleone, ma'am, I assure you. "

Mrs Gilmour burst into a fit of laughter, in which they all joinedheartily; the barrister's jovial roar being heard above the music of theband. 

"Ah, no wonder you didn't like my seeing it!" she cried with pleasantirony, which, however, made the old sailor wince, this "yacht" of hisbeing a subject on which he was wont to enlarge amongst his friends. "Why, from what you said, I thought she was a big schooner like the onethat took the cup at Cowes last year when we all went over with thosehorrid Tomkinses to see the regatta! Call that a yacht, a boat of sucha size? I call it a cockleshell!"

This nettled the Captain very considerably, it must be confessed. 

"Well, ma'am, you may call it what you please, " he replied shortly, withsome little heat, putting on his hat again and jamming it down on hishead firmly, using a good deal of force as if expending in that way hislatent caloric. "But, cockleshell or no cockleshell, she's big enoughfor me!"

"But, Captain dear, isn't there room enough for me, too?" asked Nellcoaxingly, seeing that he was vexed, and sliding her little hand intohis, as if to show that she at all events was not joining in the funagainst him. "Won't you take Bob and me?"

Her touch somehow or, other banished his pettishness, enabling him tosee that Mrs Gilmour was only joking, and that he had but played intoher hands, as he said to himself, by losing his temper over it. 

"I tell you what, " he now exclaimed, without a single trace of ill-humour. "You shall see that I'm not ashamed of my little craft, forI'll have the _Zephyr_ brought over from Gosport to-morrow. What ismore, too, the whole lot of you shall go out for a sail in her--byJove!"

The Captain was as good as his word, the yacht being towed across thefollowing afternoon from Haslar Creek, where she had been lying, eversince the last yachting season, on the mud flats that there exist. 

The little craft, which was a dapper cutter with an oyster-knife sort ofbow and a clean run aft, as if she could race well when heeling over andshow a good deal of her copper sheathing, did not exceed the tonnagementioned by the Captain. 

But, in spite of her smallness of size, she appeared to have the makingof a good sea boat in her, and gained many admirers amongst the Southseawatermen as they surveyed her at her new moorings; the little craftbeing anchored off the coastguard-station and placed now under thecharge of Hellyer, when the Captain was not immediately looking afterher himself. 

Mrs Gilmour, however, remained obdurate; for, though satisfied now thatthe "yacht" really was an actual fact instead of merely a creation ofher old friend's fancy, being somewhat averse to adventuring her life onthe deep save in large vessels, and even of these she confessed feelingrather shy since the wreck of the _Bembridge Belle_, she, veryaggravatingly, declined going out in the cutter--a want of taste on herpart shared by her sister-in-law, whose weak nerves supplied a morereasonable pretext for not accepting the Captain's usual invitation tomake the little vessel's better acquaintance. 

Bob's father, however, exhibited no such reluctance; and, as for Bobhimself, he and Nellie and Dick were all in the seventh heaven ofdelight when, a morning or two afterwards, there being a nice nor'-westerly breeze blowing, which was good both for working out to sea andrunning home again, the Captain took them for a sail, managing single-handed the smart cutter as only a sailor, such as he was, could. 

Thenceforward, Bob's holidays were all halcyon days. 

He had certainly enjoyed himself before; in his rambles on the beach, inhis daily dip and new experiences of the delights of swimming; in thevarious little trips he and Nellie had taken; aye, and in thepleasurable occupation of collecting all those strange wonders of theshore, with which they had been so recently made familiar. 

But, never had he enjoyed himself to the extent he did now!

There was nothing, on his once having tasted the joy of sailing, thatcould compare with it for a moment in his mind; and, if his own tasteshad been consulted, he would have been content to have spent morning, noon, and night on board the _Zephyr_. 

It was the same with Dick; and, under the Captain's able tuition, boththe boys soon acquired sufficient knowledge of tacking and wearing, sailing close-hauled and going free with the helm amidships, besidesother nice points of seamanship, as to be able almost to handle thecutter as well as their instructor. 

Nellie, naturally, could not enter so fully into these details as Boband Dick; but, still, she took quite as much pleasure as they did inskimming over the undulating surface of the water and hearing thegurgling ripple made by the boat's keel. 

She felt a little alarm sometimes, perhaps, when, with her mainsailsharply braced up, the _Zephyr_ would heel over to leeward, burying hergunwale in the foam ploughed up by her keen-edged bow, as it raced past, boiling and eddying, astern. 

On one occasion the Captain took them out trawling between the Nab andWarner light-ships; where a bank of sand stretches out to sea, formingthe favourite fishing-ground of the Portsmouth watermen hailing fromPoint and the Camber at the mouth of the harbour. 

"What is trawling?" asked Master Bob, of course, when the matter wasmooted by the owner of the cutter. 

"What is trawling, eh?" repeated the old sailor, humming and cogitatingfor a minute or so. "Let me see; ah, yes, you let down a trawl andcatch your fish in it, instead of using a line or drag-net. "

"Sure, Captain, " cried Mrs Gilmour, laughing at this, "that's as goodas your definition of steam the other day! You'll have Bob asking younow what is a trawl, the same as I've got to do; please tell us, won'tyou?"

"Sure and I will, " returned he, imitating her accent and making herbrother and herself laugh, Mrs Strong only smiling faintly, as she hada marked dislike to any allusion to the Irish brogue. "The trawl, ma'am, is a very simple contrivance when it is understood; and, by yourleave, I'll try and make it plain to you. It consists of an ordinarynet, like a seine, which you've seen, of course?"

"Yes, " replied his questioner, "I have seen them dragging the seine, asit is called, down on the beach often. "

"Oh, auntie, Nell and I saw them, too, the day after that storm we hadwhen we first came, " said Bob eagerly. "I know, because I asked the menwhat they were doing, and they told me. "

"There's nothing like asking for information, " observed the Captainapprovingly. "It's lucky, though, those men told you at once, or you'dhave worried their lives out!"

"Sure and you may well say that, " put in Mrs Gilmour. "You have tosuffer frequently from some little people's thirst for knowledge. "

"I don't mind, " chuckled the Captain, beaming with good-humour. "But, to go on with my description of the trawl. You must imagine, as I havesaid, an ordinary seine net, which must be a small one, and that loopedup at the corners, too, somewhat in the shape of a funnel, or rather inthe form of a cone sliced in two. The mouth of this apparatus is keptopen on its flat side by means of a pole some ten or twelve feet long, termed the `trawl-beam, ' which floats uppermost when the net is down;while the lower side is weighted with a thick heavy piece of hawserstyled the `ground-rope, ' around which the meshes of the net are woven. A bridle or `martingale' unites the two ends of the trawl-beam. "

"Yes, I see, " said Bob, who was all attention, and taking the greatestinterest in the Captain's explanation. "I see. "

"Well, " continued the old sailor, "to this bridle there is attached adouble-sheaved block, through which runs a hundred-and-fifty fathomrope, capable of bearing a heavy strain. But, in hauling this in, greatnicety must be observed, for, the slightest hitch or deflection willcause the beam to turn the wrong way; when, if the net `gets on herback, ' as the fisher-folk say, all your catch is simply turned out into`the vasty deep, ' and your toil results in a case of `Love's labourlost!'"

"But, what do you do with the net and beam, when it's all ready?" askedBob. "You haven't told us that, yet. "

"Why, drop it over the side as soon as you get out to the fishing-ground, " replied the Captain laconically; "and now, I hope, youunderstand all about it?"

"Oh yes, " responded his listeners with alacrity; all, that is, but MrsGilmour, who assented somewhat dubiously, as if she could not quitegrasp the idea, requiring the whole thing to be explained to her overagain, when she declared herself still "all in a fog!"

Her brother, however, the barrister, comprehended it at once. 

"I should think it was great fun, " he observed; "so I would like to comewith you. "

"Do, " said the Captain, with much heartiness. "You'll be amply repaidfor the trouble. It is intensely exciting waiting and watching for whatthe trawl will bring up. It's just like dipping your hands in the`lucky bag, ' Miss Nellie, at Christmas-time. "

"Do you ever find any very curious things, Captain?" she inquired onbeing thus appealed to. "I mean really curious things!"

"Oh yes, my dear, " replied the old sailor. "I was once out trawlingwith a fisherman off Saint Helens, when we dragged up a donkey-cart!"

"O-oh!" exclaimed Nellie, opening her blue eyes wide with wonder. "Didyou catch the donkey as well?"

"Well, no, " answered the Captain, smiling at her amazement, her eyesbeing so big and her face such a study. "The poor man's donkey, missy, had been eaten by the crabs, but the cart was there, shafts, wheels, andall; and, a nice mess the lot made of the trawl-net, tearing it all topieces!"

"That clenches it then. I'll come with you by all means!" cried MrDugald Strong, a pleased smile creeping over his face as he rubbed hishands with expectant glee. "If you find such strange fish as that, itmust be worth going out. "

"All right, I shall be glad of your company, " replied the Captain;"only, mind, you'll have to work your passage, and help hauling in thetrawl. "

"I agree to that, " said the other; and, the matter being thus settled, it was arranged that they should proceed the following day on theirexpedition, if the weather were favourable and nothing occurred to altertheir plans. Nellie was specially granted permission to accompany theparty, much against the wish of her mother, who declared that she wouldspoil all her things to a certainty; saying besides, that, from what shehad gathered of the conversation, she did not believe trawling was avery ladylike pursuit, "for little girls, at all events. "

However, all the same, Miss Nellie was up betimes the next morning, andsallied out with Bob and his father, whose pet she was, just as theearly milkman was coming his rounds; the trio getting down to the beachpunctually at seven o'clock, the hour fixed by the Captain for theirstart. 

Here they found the old sailor and Dick, ready and waiting for them;when, going off in the little dinghy belonging to the _Zephyr_, althoughthe boat had to make a couple of passages to and fro, being only capableof accommodating two passengers besides proud Dick the sculler, theywere soon all on board. 

The cutter, then, having her jib and mainsail already set, had only toslip her moorings, and was off and away, bowling out seaward before thebreeze, which was blowing from the land. 

The morning was bright and balmy; and the sun having risen some hoursearlier even than the very early risers of the party, its beams by thistime warmed the heavens and lit up the landscape, the rose-tints of dawnbeing succeeded by a golden glow all over the sky, the sea dancing insympathy and sparkling in the sunlight--being altogether too merry tolook blue. 

It did not take the little craft long, running before the wind with aslack sheet, to reach the Horse Shingle shoal, beyond the outlying fort, and near the Warner light-ship, where lay the fishing-ground, or "bank, "which the Captain had described as being especially favourable for theirsport. 

"Now, " said the old sailor, "the time for action has at last arrived. We must get ready to `shoot' the trawl. "

"You are not going to fire?" cried Nell in alarm, hearing him use thetechnical term he had employed. "I'm so afraid of guns. "

"No, my dear, " he answered chuckling, "I meant pitching the trawl overthe side, just in the same way as you say `shooting' coals or rubbish. Are you ready at your end, Strong?"

"Yes, I'm all right, " replied the barrister, who had been ably helpingthe Captain in arranging the meshes of the net along the starboard-gunwale, out of the way of the swing of the boom, and getting the trawl-beam across the stern-sheets of the cutter; while Bob and Dick attendedto the sheets and tiller. "Fire away, Captain Dresser!"

"Well, then, let us heave over, " sang out the Captain, in his quarter--deck voice, as he called it. "One--two--three--off she goes!"

So, with a dull plunge, the trawl was "shot, " the old sailor and MrStrong quickly pitching over the side, after it, the bunchy folds of thenet; when the guy-rope fastened to the bridle of the beam was secured tothe bowsprit-bitts and then again to a thole-pin aft, so as to preventits getting under the keel. 

The boat was then allowed to fill her jib and drift out with the ebbingtide, keeping a straight course for the Nab, and steering herself bymeans of the dragging net astern; neither the services of Bob nor ofDick being required any further at the helm under the circumstances. 

"You can light your pipe now, if you like, " said Captain Dresser to MrStrong, when this was satisfactorily accomplished. "We shall havenothing to do for the next hour or two; for we must have the net downlong enough to let something have a chance of getting into the pocket ofit. "

"I suppose the smell of tobacco won't frighten the fish?" observed thebarrister, gladly taking advantage of the permission and striking avesuvian, his pipe being already loaded and ready. "Fresh-water anglersare rather particular on the point. "

"Bless you, no!" replied the old sailor laughing, "our fish at sea knowwhat's good for them and like it!"

Miss Nell, who seemed anxious about something, presently hazarded aquestion when her father had lit his pipe and was smoking comfortably onthe forecastle. 

"Are we not going to have any breakfast?" said she, in a very grave way, as befitted a matter of such deep importance. "I feel very hungry. "

"Dear me, I was almost forgetting breakfast!" cried the Captain, throwing away the end of the cigar the barrister had offered him, whichhe was smoking rather against the grain, preferring his tobacco in theform of snuff. "Dick, did you bring the things all right as I toldyou?"

"Yes, sir, " replied Dick. "They be in the fo'c's'le, sir. "

"Is the coffee on the stove?"

"Yes, sir, and biling. "

"That's right, " said the Captain, who continued, turning to Nellie, "Now, missy, you can preside over our breakfast-table if you like. You'll find all the traps ready in the little cabin for'ard under thehalf-deck. "

Thereupon, Miss Nellie, with much dignity, busied herself in pouring outthe coffee, which had been kept hot all the while on "such a dear littlestove, " as she called out to Bob the moment she caught sight of it inthe fore-cabin; the pair constituting themselves steward and stewardessinstanter, and serving out, with Dick's help, their rations to the restof the company. 

They were in the midst of breakfast, the trawl having been draggingalong the bottom of the sea for not quite an hour, when, all at once, the rope holding it attached to the bowsprit-bitts began to jerkviolently. 

"Hallo!" cried the Captain, starting up from his seat on one of thebunks in the little cabin, which, even with stooping, he and Mr Strongfound it a hard matter to squeeze themselves into. "We've caughtsomething big this time!"

"Do you think it's a whale?" said Nell, jumping up also, abandoning inher hurry her post as mistress of the ceremonies. "It must be awfullybig to make that great rope shake so!"

The old sailor chuckled till his sides shook. 

"You seem wonderfully fond of whales, missy!" he exclaimed, turninground as soon as he had managed to wriggle himself out of the fo'c's'leand was able to stand erect again. "Don't you remember, you mistookthose grampuses we came across the other day when going to Seaview forwhales?"

"Yes; and I remember, too, Captain, your making fun of me then, the sameas now, " replied Nell, smiling as she went on. "I don't mind it though, for I like being here with you and dad!"

"That's right, my dear, " replied the old sailor. "There's nothing likekeeping your temper. But, we must now see about hauling in the trawl;for the chap who has got into the net is a big fellow, whoever he is, and, if we don't pull him in pretty sharp, he'll knock our net topieces!"

So saying, the Captain brought the end of the tackle to the littlewindlass placed amidships; when he and Mr Dugald Strong, who did notfind the task, by the way, as easy as he imagined, began reeling in thetrawl rope fathom by fathom, until, anon, the end of the beam was seenpeering above the water alongside. 

The jerking of the tackle, which had continued all the time they werehauling in, appeared to increase as the trawl was raised to the surface, the net now that it was within view swaying from side to side; and, whenCaptain Dresser and the barrister leant over the gunwale to lift in thebeam with its pocket attached, there was a hoarse barking sound heardproceeding from the folds of the net, like that of a dog in thedistance. 

"Oh!" cried Nellie, in alarm, climbing up on the thwarts and getting asfar away as she could--"what is it?"

"What is it?" echoed Bob in the same breath. "What is it?"

The Captain, however, did not immediately satisfy their curiosity. 

"I've got my suspicions, " he commenced in a leisurely way as he bent alittle more over the side to get a better hold of the net; but, what hesaw, as the trawl lifted out of the sea, made him quicken his speech, and he exclaimed in a much louder tone-- "Take care, missy, and lookout, you boys! There's a shark in the trawl-net, and a pretty venomousbeast, too!"

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. 

THE SPOILS OF THE SEA. 

"A shark!" yelled out Mister Bob, evincing much greater fright than hissister Nell, although he was very fond of referring to hercontemptuously as "being only a girl, " when manly exploits happened tobe the topic of conversation and she chanced to hazard an opinion; and, at the same instant, he jumped madly from the gunwale of the littlecutter on to the top of her half-deck forwards, climbing from thenceinto the lee rigging, where he evidently thought he would be safer. "Ashark! Won't it bite?"

"Aye, by Jove, it will!" said the Captain ironically. "I'd swarm up tothe masthead, if I were you, so as to be out of harm's way. You needn'tmind your sister or any of us down here. We can take care ofourselves!"

This made Bob a bit ashamed, and he began to climb down again from therigging, looking gingerly the while over the side, as if expecting everyminute that the terrible monster of the deep which his imagination hadpictured would spring up and seize him. 

"I--I--was afraid, " he faltered. "I--I--thought it best to get out ofthe way. "

"So it seems, " said the old sailor grimly. "It's lucky, though, thatevery one was not of the same mind; or where would we all be! Dick, where's that hatchet I gave you this morning to put into the boat?"

"It's in the after locker, sir. "

"Look smart, then, " cried the Captain excitedly. "Bear a hand and getit at once. "

At this order, Dick, who, like Bob, had thought "discretion the betterpart of valour, " and got behind the windlass, in order to have somesubstantial obstacle between himself and the trawl-net which theCaptain, with Mr Dugald Strong's aid, had partly dragged into the wellof the cutter, now crawled out from his retreat; and keeping over wellto leeward on the other side of the boom, proceeded to the locker in thestern-sheets, from whence he took out a small axe and handed it toCaptain Dresser. 

"Ha!" ejaculated the old sailor, as he gripped the weapon tightly andbelaboured with the back of it, using all the vigour of his stillnervous right arm, the bag, or "pocket" of the net, in which the body ofsome big fish was seen to be entangled; although neither its form norappearance could be distinctly distinguished, the folds and meshes beingso tightly wrapped round it. "I'll soon settle him!"

"Hold hard!" shouted out Bob's father, at about the second blow with thehead of the axe over the gunwale. "You very nearly cut my arm off then!Lucky for me you were not using the edge of your hatchet. "

"Beg your pardon, I'm sure, " apologised the Captain. "But these brutesare uncommonly tough. "

"More than my arm is, " said Mr Strong ruefully, rubbing this membertenderly. "What sort of beast is it--not a real shark, surely? Ialways imagined those beggars to be very much bigger. "

"No, " replied the other, satisfied from the net being now still that hehad "settled" his victim. "It is what is called a `fox-shark, ' or dog-fish. "

"Ah, " exclaimed Bob, climbing down from the rigging now that he saw alldanger was over, "I thought I heard it bark just like a dog when you anddad hauled up the trawl. "

"So did I, " chimed in Nellie, likewise coming to the stern again fromher place of refuge. "It sounded just like Rover's bark when he'ssometimes shut up for being naughty. "

"You are both right, " said the Captain, who, with the assistance oftheir father, had now lifted the beam and net over the side into thewell of the boat and was busy unfolding the meshes of the net. "Thebrute not only barks, but bites, too, if he gets a chance. "

"Oh!" cried Bob and Nell together; and they, with Dick, waited anxiouslyto see the monster disclosed--a deep-drawn "O-o-oh!"

"There!" ejaculated the Captain a moment after, when he had extractedthe dead body of the dog-fish, nearly five feet long, from the net andturned it over with his foot so that they should see its wide shark-mouth and rows of little teeth set on edge, looking like so many small-tooth combs arranged parallel to each other. "What do you say to thatfor a nibble, eh?"

"Is it any good?" asked the barrister, thinking that the dog-fish had asort of resemblance to a good-sized pike, with the exception of courseof its head, which, however, the old sailor had so battered about withhis hatchet that the animal would not have been recognised by itsnearest relative. "Not up to much, I should think!"

"Well, I have heard of sailors eating shark on a pinch, but I've got nostomach for it myself; and all it's fit for is to be chucked overboard, "replied the Captain, carrying out his suggestion without further delay, grumbling as he added-- "The brute has spoilt our haul, too, confoundit, and damaged our net!"

It was as the Captain said, there being nothing found in the pocket ofthe trawl, beyond the carcase he had just consigned to its nativeelement, save some mud and a few oyster-shells. 

Fortunately, though, the dog-fish had not done quite so much harm as hemight; and, after mending a few rents by tying them together with piecesof sennet, which the old sailor had taken the precaution of having readyfor such purpose beforehand, the trawl-net was as good as ever, allowingthem to "shoot" it again for another dredge. 

This time it remained down till the tide turned, a good three hours atleast; and the hopes of all were high in expectation when they commencedhauling it in. 

"What do you think we'll catch now?" asked Nell. "Eh, Captain?"

"Well, not a whale, missy, " said the Captain, with his customarychuckle, which to him formed almost a part of his speech. "Still, Ifancy we ought to pick up something this time better than a dog-fish. "

These doubts were solved anon; for after a terrible long interval ofheaving round the windlass, at which Mr Strong groaned greatly, declaring that his back felt broken from having to stoop nearly doubleso as to keep out of the way of the swinging boom of the cutter, whichswayed to and fro as she rolled about in the tideway, the end of thetrawl-beam once more hove in sight alongside, bobbing up endwise out ofthe water. 

"Belay!" sang out the Captain on seeing it, taking a turn with a coil ofthe rope round the windlass-head to secure it, lest it might whirl roundand let the trawl go to the bottom again before they could hoist itinboard. "That will do now, Strong; if you'll bear a hand we'll get ourspoil in. "

Thereupon he and the barrister leant over the side of the boat asbefore; and, catching hold of either end of the trawl-beam, they liftedit over the gunwale. 

The Captain then swished the folds of the net vigorously, so as to shakewhat fish might have become entangled in the meshes into the pocket atthe end, Bob and Nellie, and likewise Dick, watching the operations withthe keenest interest. "Now, " cried the sailor, "we shall see what weshall see!" So saying, he and Mr Strong raised up the net pocket, which was a goodish big bundle and seemed, from its heavy weight, tocontain a large number of fish, for it throbbed and pulsated with theirstruggles; when, cutting with his clasp-knife the stout piece of cordwith which the small end of the pocket was tied, the Captain shook outits living contents on the bottom boards in the well--Nell giving ashriek and springing up on one of the thwarts as a slimy sole flounderedacross her foot, thinking perhaps it was a fellow sole!

She was not frightened, however, only alarmed; and, the next moment, shewas inspecting with as much curiosity as the others the motleycollection that had been brought up from the sea. 

"Not a bad lot, eh?" observed the Captain critically, poking the fishabout with the end of his stick, which he took off the seat for thepurpose. "I see we've got some good soles, besides that little chapthat took a fancy to you, missy. "

"I didn't mind it, " said Miss Nell courageously, now that she knew thatthere was nothing much to be frightened of. "It was cold and wet, poorthing; but I knew it would not hurt me. "

"Ah, but you screamed though!" retorted the sailor waggishly, as heturned to her father. "Say, Strong, do you know what to do with a sole, eh?"

"Why, eat it, I suppose, " replied the other laughing. "I don't thinkyou can better that, eh?"

"Yes, that's all right, no doubt, " said the Captain, a little bit grumpyat being caught up in that way. "I mean how to cook it properly?"

"Boil it, " suggested the barrister, at a loss how to answer the questionsatisfactorily. "I should think that the simplest plan. "

"Boil it?" repeated the Captain in a voice of horror; "boil yourgrandmother!"

"Well, you must really excuse me, " said the barrister, as well as hecould speak from laughing; while Bob and Nell went into fits at the ideaof their poor old "Gran" being cooked in so summary a fashion. "I'mgood at a knife and fork, but really I don't know anything of cooking. "

"I see you don't, " replied the old sailor triumphantly, his good-humourrestored at being able to put the other "up to a wrinkle, " as he said;"but I'll tell you. The best way, Strong, to do a sole is to grill himas quickly as you can over a clear fire. About five minutes is enoughfor the transaction; and then, with a squeeze of lemon and a dash ofcayenne, you've got a dish fit for a king! No bread-crumbs or butter orany of that French fiddlery, mind, or you'll spoil him!"

"I'll remember your recipe should I ever chance to turn cook, " said MrStrong. "I should think it ought to taste uncommonly good. "

"By Jove, you shall try it, this very afternoon!" cried the old sailorenergetically. "Dick, see that the gridiron is clean, for we'll want itby and by. Hullo, though, I'm forgetting about the rest of our catch. Let us see what we've got. "

While the Captain had been talking to their father, Bob and Nellie hadbeen rummaging in the bottom of the boat, trying to make out thedifferent fish; but, from the fact of all being coated with mud, ofwhich the trawl's pocket was pretty well filled, in addition to its liveoccupants, these latter seemed all so similar at first glance as toresemble those two negro gentlemen, Pompey and Caesar, described by asable brother as being "berry much alike, 'specially Pompey!"

However, the old sailor soon sorted them out. 

"Half-a-dozen pair of good soles, eh? That will be a treat for youraunt Polly, " he said to Miss Nell, pitching the fish as he picked themout carelessly on one side. "Some odd flounders, too, I see. They'renearly as good as our soles; and, I see also a lot of plaice and dabs, which are not bad, fried, when you can't get anything better in the sameline, and--hullo, by jingo, don't touch that!"

"Why, Captain?" inquired Bob, who had just taken up in his hands a soft, jelly-like, flabby thing that appeared as if it were a little white owl, some ten or twelve inches high, without any particular head or wings tospeak of, although it had a short black beak, resembling a parrot's, projecting from out of its livid-hued fleshy body. "What is it?"

"It's a cuttle-fish, " cried the old sailor. "Drop it, my boy, at once!or--"

He spoke too late; for at the same moment, the cuttle-fish deluged Bobwith the inky fluid which nature has provided it with as a means ofhiding its whereabouts in the water from its enemies, and from which theRomans obtained their celebrated "Tyrian dye. "

Nell, also, came in for a share of this over her dress, which did not byany means improve its appearance. 

"Never mind, though;" said the Captain to them both, by way ofconsolation. "What's done can't be helped!"

"Ah!" remarked their father slily, "if you had been looking after thenet, instead of instructing me in cookery, this wouldn't have happened. "

"You're quite right, Strong, " replied the other, with an air of greatcontrition; albeit his eyes twinkled with fun and his manner was notquite that of a repentant sinner. "I've neglected my dutiesshamefully. "

With these words he set to work anew, disinterring a large skateweighing over twelve pounds from amidst the mud and refuse brought up bythe trawl. 

The gills of this fish, in the centre of its globular body, had the mostextraordinary likeness to a human face; and as the queer-lookingcreature puffed out these gills, it appeared, as Mr Strong pointed out, just like a fat old gentleman taking a glass of some rare and highly-recommended wine and "washing his mouth out" so as to taste it properly. 

"Oh, papa, how funny!" exclaimed Nell. "It is just like that, too! Butlook, Captain, there's a `soldier crab, ' isn't it?"

"Yes, my dear, and we'll keep him for your aquarium; as well as some newsea-anemones and another zoophyte I see here, too. This chap ischristened the `alcyonium' by learned naturalists, but is called `deadman's fingers' by the fisher-folk along shore. "

"What a horrid name!" interposed Nellie, shuddering--"a horrid name!"

"It is so named, " continued the Captain, "because the creature has theadvantage of having several bodies instead of one, all radiating from asingle stem, like fingers or toes. But now, I think, there's nothingmuch of any good left of our shoot, save a few oysters. Those will comein handy presently, eh, Strong?"

"Yes, I shan't mind, " replied the barrister. "I'm beginning to have anappetite, I think. "

"We'll have luncheon at once then, " said the old sailor with alacrity, as if this would be a labour of love. "I'm not beginning to have anappetite, because I've got one already, and a precious good one, too!Do you think you can pick a bit if you try, eh, young people?"

"Yes, please, " replied Nell. Master Bob's response was a shout of"Rather, " fully indicative of his feelings; while Dick grinned so muchthat his face was a study as he said "Y-es, sir, sure-ly!"

Taking all these evidences as proof of the unanimity of the company onthe subject, the Captain, all helping, at once set about thepreparations for the coming feast. He first, however, tied up thepocket of the trawl again, preparatory to heaving it overboard; so thatthey could "kill two birds with one stone, " as he said, and be fishingand eating at the same time. 

Each had something to do after this important operation. 

Dick began by scraping some soles which the Captain selected from thenumber he had put aside for Mrs Gilmour. Next, Master Bob washed thesein a bucket of water he had procured from over the side of the cutter insailor fashion; and then handing them to the Captain, who officiated as"master of the kitchen, " over the gridiron in the "fo'c's'le, "--the oldsailor cooked away quite cheerfully, in spite of having to bend himselfalmost in two in the little cabin in order to attend to his taskproperly, his zeal preventing him for the moment from feeling anyinconvenience from stooping so much. 

Nell, who had been debarred from any share in preparing the fish orlooking after its grilling, which, certainly, she would infinitely havepreferred, contented herself with arranging the four small plates whichwere all that the cutter's locker contained in the way of crockery-ware, besides a similar number of cups of various hues and shapes. 

All of these articles the young lady set out systematically on a boardwhich the Captain fixed across the thwarts to serve as a table; while, as for Mr Strong, all he did in the way of assistance was to sethimself down on the most comfortable seat he could find in the stern-sheets, where, lighting his pipe, he beguiled the weary moments untillunch should be ready as best he could, smoking and thinking!

He had not to wait long; for presently, with much dignity the Captainserved up his first instalment of soles, which were declared by thebarrister to be so good that another cooking was necessary; aye, andanother too after that, until there was not a single sole left. 

"Poor aunt Polly!" exclaimed Nellie, laughing merrily when they were allconsumed, and the bones of the fish chucked overboard to feed theirbrethren below. "All her soles are gone! What shall we tell her?"

"Why, that we ate them, " said the Captain, starting the laugh, and alljoining in. 

Dick, who was at the moment devouring the last crust of bread left, after finishing his portion of the fish, nearly choked himself bybursting into a guffaw while in the act of swallowing; so, thisnecessitated the Captain's administering to him a cup of sea-waterwherewith to wash down the morsel sticking in his throat, which did nottaste nice after grilled sole, though the Captain said it was "as goodas grog. "

They did not have much sport after luncheon, the next cast of the netbringing up nothing but boulders and mud, besides an old bottle thatmust have been dropped into the sea years before and, mayhap, went downwith Kempenfeldt in the _Royal George_; for it was encrusted withseaweed and barnacles of almost a century's growth. 

After a bit, seeing that nothing further was to be gained by stoppingout at sea, drifting with the tide alternately between the Nab andWarner light-ships, like Mahomet's coffin between heaven and earth, theCaptain hauled up the trawl and bore away back homeward as well as hecould with a foul wind, having to make several tacks before fetching thecutter's moorings off the coastguard-station. 

In spite of this, however, they reached "the Moorings" in time fordinner; when, notwithstanding their hearty luncheon, no deficiency ofappetite could be observed in any of the party. 

Bob and Nellie were, of course, delighted with their experiences of theday; for, in addition to the joys of trawling and festive picnic on thewater, which they thought even better than their previous one on land, they brought home a splendid "soldier crab, " who caused much subsequentamusement when admitted to the aquarium, two new specimens of sea-anemones, and the "dead man's fingers, " whose name made their aunt Pollyshiver, the good lady declaring it "quite uncanny, sure. "

Their mother, however, was not quite so well-pleased with the result ofthe expedition. 

"There, I told you so!" she exclaimed, on catching sight of them, withthe stains of the cuttle-fish plainly visible on their clothes. "Youwill never wish to wear this suit again, Bob; and, dear, dear, look atyour dress, Nellie!"

"It's not so bad, mamma, " pleaded she. "I only got a little of it. "

"A little of what?"

"The Tyrian dye, Captain Dresser called it, from the cuttle-fish, "explained Bob, who seemed to treat the matter more lightly than thespoiling of his shirt-front and jacket deserved in Mrs Strong'sopinion. "It's quite classical, mother--so the Captain said when I gotsquelched with it. "

"Really, I wish Captain Dresser would not make experiments with his dyeswhen you two are near him, " said she, very plaintively. "He hasn't tolook after your clothes, as I have. "

Nell smiled at her mother's mistake, while Master Bob fairly screechedwith laughter. 

"Why, it wasn't the Captain who did it, " he shouted out gleefully. "Itwas the cuttle-fish that squirted over us. "

Then, on the whole story being told her, Mrs Strong exonerated theCaptain. 

But not so Mrs Gilmour, when she learnt the history of the soles, whichhad been specially set aside for her and afterwards eaten. 

"Oh, you cormorants!" she cried, pretending to be in a great rage. "Fancy eating my soles! Did you ever hear of such a thing? CaptainDresser, I'll never forgive you!"

"Don't be so hard-hearted, " said he imploringly. "If you only knew howhungry we were, I'm sure you would forgive us with your usual good-nature. "

"I'm not so certain of that, " replied she. "'Deed, and I won't. "

"Besides, we enjoyed them so, do you know, " continued the old sailor, chuckling away at a fine rate. "Sure they were mighty fine, ma'am. Thebest soles I ivver ate, sure. "

"That makes the matter worse, you robber!" she retorted, smiling good-naturedly at his broad mimicry of her Irish pronunciation. "Why, ye'readding insult now to injury, sure. "

"Never mind, Polly, " interposed her brother, acting as peacemakerbetween the two. "The Captain will show you how to cook soles properlythe next time he catches any. "

"Yes, " said Mrs Gilmour drily, "if he doesn't ate them first. "

"By Jove, I promise not to do that, ma'am, for I don't like 'em raw, "replied the offender, keeping up the fun, and not one whit abashed bythese comments on his behaviour. "Really, though, ma'am, I think youought to forgive me now, and banish your hard feelings, as you've givenme a wigging. Besides, if we did eat all the soles, I've brought youhome a fine big skate, and lots of plaice, instead. "

"Sure, I'll consider about it, " said his hostess, showing signs ofrelenting. "But don't you think, now, skates are rather out of place inthis warm weather, eh, Captain?"

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. 

MISSING!

"Humph! that makes the rubber, " cried the Captain late one evening, somelittle time after the events recorded in the last chapter, when theywere winding up the day with a game of whist, which had succeeded thenightly battle of cribbage wherewith Mrs Gilmour and the old sailorused to amuse their leisure before the advent of the barrister and MrsStrong on the scene. "What say all you good people to a trip toSouthampton to-morrow? There will be an excursion steamer running therein the morning, starting from the old pier at ten o'clock sharp, Ithink. "

"All right; now you've beaten us, I suppose you want to appear generous, and divert our attention from our defeat, " said Mrs Dugald Strong, witha fine touch of sarcasm, as the Captain chuckled over the odd trick, andcollected the spoils of war, in the shape of sundry little fish-counters, which he and his partner, aunt Polly, had won, through the oldsailor's successful manipulation of the cards. "I believe we've seenall that is to be seen in the isle of Wight. "

"Indade you have, " corroborated Mrs Gilmour. "We've been everywhere inthe sweet little place--no wonder it's called the `garden of England'!Sure we've seen everything, from the broken grating of the window whichpoor Charles the First was unable to squaze himself through atCarisbrook Castle, being too fat, poor man, down to the hawthorn-bush atFaringford over against Beacon Down atop of the Needles, where Tennysonused to hide his long clay pipes after smoking them, before going outfor his walk on the cliff. Sure, and I don't think, Dugald, there'sanything more for ye to see there at all, at all!"

"Oh, auntie, you have forgotten `little Jane's' grave in the pretty oldchurchyard at Brading, and the cottage in which the good `dairyman'sdaughter' lived at Arreton, " chimed in Nellie, who was more romantic. "Yes, and those dear little Swiss villas too, at Totland Bay, auntPolly, peeping out from the fir-trees and bracken, with the fuchsiaslike big trees in their front gardens, and the scarlet geraniums growingwild in the hedgerows!"

"Ah, " said Master Bob, "I liked the smugglers' cave at Ventnor. I wishthey hadn't boarded it up, so that a fellow can't see where they used tohide the cargoes of silk and lace and kegs of brandy the French luggersbrought across from Saint Malo--wasn't that where they ran them from, Captain?"

"Aye, " replied the old sailor. "They don't now, though, my boy. Ourcoastguardsmen are too sharp for that, and the mounseers have to findanother market for their goods! But are you all agreed about our payinga visit to Southampton to-morrow, my friends?"

"It's a long voyage, " observed Mrs Gilmour, who, although she hadforsworn her resolve anent excursion steamers in her desire not tointerpose any selfish obstacle, such as her own wishes, to the enjoymentof the others during their holiday by the sea in proper seafaringfashion, yet could not forget the _Bembridge Belle_ catastrophe. "Areyou sure the vessel is safe?"

"Oh yes, " answered the Captain. "She's one of the regular boats, and isas safe as a man-of-war. "

"Then we may consider the expedition arranged, " said Mrs Strong, who, being anxious to see the city of the great Saint Bevis, had no objectionto the trip up Southampton Water; for, having been already across theSolent, and even voyaged round the Isle of Wight, so to speak, withoutfeeling sea-sick or qualmish, she was confident of being a `bornsailor, ' as the saying goes, and thus only too pleased to have anopportunity of testing her new experiences further. "If you say it issafe, Captain Dresser, neither Polly nor any of us need be alarmed, I amsure. "

The next morning, as the steamer was advertised to start punctually atthe hour fixed, Bob was warned of his not having much time to spare whensetting out for his bathe before breakfast with the good dog Rover. 

"Oh, I'll be back in plenty of time, " was his boastful reply. "I'lltake some bread-and-butter with me for breakfast, and get a cup of milkfrom the apple-woman on the beach; and shall be at the pier waiting foryou before you leave the house. "

"Take care, my boy; we're rather late this morning, and you are runningit pretty close, " said his father, looking at his watch, as the younggentleman was scampering through the hall. "You won't have half-an-houraltogether to spare. "

But, Bob was obstinate, and away he went across the common, with Roverat his heels. 

"I know he will be late, " sighed Mrs Strong, looking after him. "Iknow he will be late. "

"Well, if he is, he will be left behind, that's all I can say, " said hisfather, with decision. "I'm afraid Master Bob has too much of his ownway; and, it is just as well he should be taught a lesson sometimes. "

Thus giving his fiat, Mr Strong, apparently dismissing Bob for thepresent from his mind, hurried the preparations of the others, so thatthey, at least, should be in good time; and, some twenty minutes afterthe truant had left, he and Mrs Strong and his sister, with Nellie, started for the pier, arriving there just as the Captain came up in agreat hurry, stepping along as briskly as he and his malacca cane couldget over the ground. 

"Where's Bob?" he at once asked, missing the absentee. "Where's Bob?"

"He's gone to bathe, " replied poor Nell, very disconsolately. "He saidhe'd get here as soon as we did, but he hasn't come yet, and I'm afraidhe'll be too late. "

"That he will, " said the Captain, looking equally distressed. "I hearthe steamer's bell ringing--in fact, I heard it before, and that made mequicken my movements. The stupid fellow!--Why did you let him go?"

"Wilful would have his way, " answered Mr Strong, shrugging hisshoulders. "It is his own fault, and he must suffer the consequences. Come on, you people; I don't see why we should sacrifice our trip, atany rate. "

Mrs Gilmour and his wife tried in vain to combat the barrister'sresolution, suggesting that the excursion might be postponed; but hewould not consent to this for a moment. 

"No, " he said determinedly, "this is the only day we could go; for, whenthe boat next leaves for Southampton, we'll most probably be back intown. "

So saying, he pushed them all through the turnstile before him, andtaking their tickets, including one for Bob, in case he still contrivedto turn up in time, led the way to the steamer, which was blowing offher steam alongside the pier, as if in the greatest haste to start. 

They were none too soon; for, hardly had they got on board, ere theengine-gong sounded and the steamer's paddles began to move, the vesselgliding out into the stream as her hawsers were cast-off. 

All looked out eagerly, Nellie especially, almost in tears, hoping tothe last that Bob would come scurrying up; but, much to the generaldisappointment, no Bob came, nor did they even have the poorsatisfaction of seeing him appear in the distance after the steamer hadleft the pier. 

"Poor Bob!" bewailed Nell, for whom all the fun of the expedition haddeparted with his absence. "I knew he would be too late. "

"Never mind, missy, " said the Captain to cheer her up, although he, too, felt sorry at the party being thus lessened in numbers; "you'll see himwhen we return this evening, and will then be able to tell him of allthe fine sights he lost by not going with us. "

But Nell would not be consoled; for, in addition to Bob's not being withthem, Rover was likewise an absentee, while the Captain had left Dickbehind to give the cutter a good clean out, as well as perform otherduties. He thought that, perhaps, Mrs Strong might not like the boybeing brought with them and treated on an equality with her ownchildren; being taken, apparently, everywhere they went, as he had beenbefore. It need hardly be said, though, that such an idea neveroccurred to Bob's mother, who knew well how Dick had risked his life tosave her son's; the thought, really, was entirely due to the oldsailor's ultra conscientiousness!

Under these circumstances, therefore, Nellie did not by any means enjoythe trip; nor did the elders of the party, either, seem happy, allappearing to be equally well-pleased after they had seen Southampton, where there was not very much to see after all, and the boat startedback for home. 

Soon after the steamer passed Calshott Castle and got into the waters ofthe Solent, late in the afternoon, the comfort of those on board was notincreased by their getting into a thick white woolly sea-fog, which hadcrept over the Isle of Wight from the Channel. 

On their reaching the pier at Southsea again, they found the fog had gotthere before them; and, crossing the common, they could hardly see eachother at a couple of yards distance. 

Neither the barrister nor Mrs Strong liked the appearance of things, thinking that this mist of the sea resembled one of their own "Londonparticulars, " and betokened a spell of bad weather. 

The Captain, however, made light of it. 

"Pooh, pooh!" cried he, "it's only brought up by the south-easterly windand will be cleared off by the morning, when you'll probably have ahotter day than ever. "

This allayed Mrs Strong's forebodings in reference to the weather, andshe began to wonder what had become of Bob during their absence. 

"He must have found the day very long, poor boy!" she said. "I wonderwhat he has been doing?"

"Oh, I've no doubt he's been amusing himself, " replied the Captaincheerfully. "I don't think Bob would remain dull very long if even leftalone. "

The same thoughts were passing through the minds both of Nellie and heraunt, although they said nothing; and all were looking forward to theirconjectures being solved as to how Bob had passed the time when theyshould arrive at "the Moorings. "

However, on coming to the house, who should greet them but Rover, whogot up languidly from the doorstep, his coat all dripping with wet. 

"Poor doggie!" exclaimed Nell, patting him. "Why, you're all damp withthe fog! Your master shouldn't have been so cruel as to leave yououtside. Where's Bob?"

Usually on being asked this question, Rover's invariable answer would bea short, sharp, joyous bark; but now, in place of this, the retrieverput up his head and uttered a plaintive whine that was almost a howl. 

It struck dismay into all their hearts; and on Sarah's opening the doorat the same moment, Nell's question to the dog was now put to her. 

"Where's Master Bob?"

The girl started back in astonishment. 

"Law, mum!" said she, addressing her mistress, Mrs Gilmour. "Ain't hewith you, mum?"

"No, " she replied, much frightened at Sarah's answer, or rather counter-question; while Mrs Strong grew as pale as death and Nellie clung toher convulsively, Rover's demeanour having roused their worst fears. "You don't mean to say you haven't seen him?"

"No, mum, I thought he was with you, " repeated the housemaid, beginningto cry as if accused of some fault. "I've never set eyes on Master Bobsince he went out to bathe before you did, mum, this morning!"

"I wonder where the young rascal is?" sang out the Captain in a jovialsort of way, to allay the alarm of the others and hide his ownuneasiness. "You'd better get inside out of the damp all of you while Igo off to the coastguard-station. I wouldn't mind betting a brassfarthing I'll find Master Bob there hobnobbing with Hellyer and Dick. He's very fond of going there to listen to my old coxswain's yarns whenhe has got a chance. "

"I'll come with you, " said Mr Strong, not liking to let him go alone, besides also beginning to feel anxious, adding to his wife-- "Go in, Edith! you need not be uneasy. We'll soon bring back our young truant!"

So saying, he and the Captain, followed by Rover with drooping tail, started for the coastguard-station on the beach. 

However, on getting there, their fears, instead of being dispelled, were, on the contrary, alarmingly heightened!

Hellyer told them that he had not come on duty until a late hour in theday; and had then not seen anything of either Bob or Dick. 

"The man as I relieved, " continued the coastguardsman, "told me as howhe seed two boys in the Cap'en's boat about midday; and, all at once, arter his dinner, for which he goes into the cabin, you know, he missesthe boat and the boys too. But, he doesn't think anythink o' this, hesays, believin' they has took her into the harbour. "

"Confound him!" cried the Captain excitedly. "Who was the man? Heought to have known something was wrong when he saw the two lads alonein her like that. "

"He would be a stranger to you, sir, " said Hellyer. "He wer' a man fromthe Hayling beat as just come on fresh to jine this station here to-day, sir. He's a man, sir, of the name of Jones, and rayther soft, like!"

"How unfortunate!" muttered the Captain, while Mr Strong groaned andupbraided himself for his seeming harshness to Bob in the morning. "Howvery unlucky!"

"Of course, " went on the coastguardsman earnestly, in deep sympathy withboth--"the moment the man tells me of this, I knows what happens, seeingthat blessed sea-fog a creeping up and the wind falling; and so I goesoff to the commander and tells him what I thinks--as how Master Bob andthat young Dick o' yourn, Cap'en, were most likely all adrift andcouldn't fetch in to the land. I--"

"But what did your commander do?" cried the old sailor, interrupting. "Tell me that!"

"Why, sir, he sent word round to all our stations and down to theDockyard, and he's telegraphed likewise to the h'island so as howthere'll be a strict look-out kep' all round the coast for the poorlads. "

"I am very much obliged to you, Hellyer, and to the commander as well, "said the Captain as he and Mr Strong turned away mournfully, retracingtheir steps back to "the Moorings. " "I'm afraid we can do nothing morenow. "

No, nothing more could be done then. 

The morning brought no news to gladden their hearts or brighten theirhopes. 

Matters, indeed, looked worse than had been expected. 

For, as the day wore on, reports reached the Dockyard from the differentcoastguard-stations along the eastern and western coast of the mainlandand from the Isle of Wight, whence a strict look-out had been kept onthe approaches to Spithead and the adjacent waters of the Channel. 

These reports were all to the same effect. 

Not a trace had been seen of the missing boat; nor anything heard of Boband Dick. 

It was the same the following day, nothing likewise being then reported;although the search had been redoubled and one of the Government tugssent out from the harbour to scour the offing. 

Hope now gave way to despair before the certainty that stared them inthe face, putting possibility beyond doubt. 

Everybody believed the boat had been swamped, or run down in the fog, and that Bob and Dick were drowned!

Poor boys!

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. 

A SEA-FOG. 

"Now, " said Bob to himself, when he got down to the beach after a sharprun across the common, "I must be as spry as possible with my swim, orelse I shall be too late for the boat, as dad said I would be, for Ireally haven't got much time to spare!"

Unfortunately, however, at the very outset, poor Bob met with obstaclesthat prevented this praiseworthy intention being effectively carriedout. In the first place, Dick, with whom he had always bathed incompany since their first involuntary dip together off the castlerampart on the first evening of their arrival at Southsea, was not attheir usual trysting-place. Not only that, he was nowhere to be seen inthe neighbourhood of the shore. 

"I wonder where he can be?" said Bob, continuing his soliloquy in a verydisjointed frame of mind, after looking in every direction fruitlessly, and calling out Dick's name in vain. "I wonder where he can be? TheCaptain did not say he wasn't to come with us this morning!"

At last, after wasting some precious minutes thus waiting, he beganundressing very slowly, instead of in the usual brisk manner in which hewas in the habit of peeling off his clothes, running a race with Dick tosee who would get into the water first. 

Then, at length, he plunged in to take his swim in a very half-heartedfashion, going in reluctantly and coming out in the same undecided way;while, to make matters worse and further protract his loitering, just ashe was beginning to dress again, a nasty spiteful bloodhound, which wasprowling by the shore, made a most unprovoked attack on Rover, necessitating his going to his rescue with a big stone--Master Bobhopping up to the scene of action "with one shoe off and one shoe on, "like the celebrated "John" the hero of the nursery rhyme!

Rover was not quite a match for the brute that assailed him; but withBob's help, not omitting the big stone, the two "routed the enemy withgreat slaughter, " the bloodhound fleeing away ignominiously with histail between his legs, and Rover raising a paean of victory in the shapeof a defiant bark as he retreated. 

Still, the episode consumed a few more minutes of valuable time; so whenBob had hopped back again to where he had left his clothes to completehis toilet, and then raced down to the pier, it was not only past thehour fixed for the Southampton steamer to start, but she was alreadywell on her way. 

In fact, she was just then rounding Gillkicker Point, which juts outfrom Stokes Bay, bearing away on board her, his father and mother andNell, besides the Captain and Mrs Gilmour; and not only that, leavinghim behind!

Bob did not know how to contain himself. 

He was too manly to cry; although he felt a big lump in his throat whichmade him take several short swallows without gulping anything down;while, strangely enough, something seemed to get in his eyes, for amoment preventing him from seeing anything seaward but assort of hazymist as he stood listlessly by the head of the pier, trying vainly todiscern the excursion-boat, now fast disappearing in the distance!

Presently, however, after remaining there awhile, staring at nothing, the Captain's favourite maxim occurred to his mind-- "What's done can'tbe helped"; and coming to the conclusion that there was no use in hisstopping on the pier any longer, since the steamer had left, and therewas no possibility of his being able to join the others, he determinedto bend his steps in the direction of the coastguard-station, with thehope of finding Hellyer there to cheer his drooping spirits. 

Bob's fates, though, appeared singularly unpropitious for him thismorning; for on his arriving anon at the little cabin beyond the castle, which was the Captain's regular trysting-place, lo, and behold, astrange man was there, who told him that Hellyer was "off duty, " and itwould not be his turn "on" again until late in the afternoon. Here wasanother misfortune!

But there was "balm in Gilead" in store for Bob; for, hardly had thelong face that he pulled on learning the unwelcome news of Hellyer'sabsence merged again into the ordinary round contour with which hisfriends were familiar, than, whom should he see coming along the beach, only a little way off, but--who should you think? Why, Dick!

Yes, he had been into Portsmouth, he explained, to take a letter to theDockyard for the Captain; and now, also in pursuance of the old sailor'sorders, he was about going off to the cutter, which lay at her mooringsabreast of the coastguard-station, and only about a cable's length out, so as to be within easy reach, so that they could haul her up on theshingle in the event of any sudden shifting wind rendering her anchorageunsafe. 

Bob at once flew to him with open arms, so to speak; and so did Rovertoo, the sagacious animal always reflecting his young master's moods, and having turned as woebegone as a naturally cheerful dog could besince he noticed Bob's being mopey, he had now resumed his proper toneof bark and mien, wagging his tail at the sight of Dick and thusreciprocating Bob's feelings. 

"Hullo, Dick!" said the latter, when the young yachtsman had approachednear enough for them to speak without getting to each other. "What areyou going to do aboard?"

"To clean out the yacht ready for another trip, Master Bob. The Cap'entold me to get her done afore he come back. "

"That's jolly!" exclaimed Bob, brightening up at the prospect of somesort or any sort of expedition in lieu of the one he had missed. "May Icome with you?"

"Ees, sure-ly, Master Bob, " returned Dick. "But how comes it you bain'ta-gone wi' the Cap'en and t'others?"

Bob did not like any allusion to this delicate subject. 

"I was too late, " he said abruptly, changing the conversation at once. "How are you going off to the cutter, I see she has got the dinghytowing behind, eh?"

"P'r'aps I'm a-going to swim out to her, " replied Dick, with a grin. "What say you to that, Master Bob, hey?"

"If you do, I will too, " retorted Bob; "although I've had my dipalready, and very lonesome it was. Why didn't you come down thismorning?"

"I sang out to you jist now, sir, as how I had to take a letter for theCap'en, who told me as he didn't think you'd have time to bathe aforestarting for the steamer. "

"I thought I had--and missed it!" said Bob ruefully. "But you're notgoing really to swim out to the cutter now, Dick, eh?"

"No, no, Master Bob, " cried Dick, his grin expanding into a laugh. "Iwere only a-joking. There's a waterman just shoving down his wherry aswill put us off to her. Hi, ahoy, there!"

"Hi, hullo!" also shouted out Bob; but the two only succeeded inultimately attracting the attention of old Barney the boatman, who wasrather deaf, and required a deal of hallooing before noticing any one, by setting on Rover with a "Hi, catch him, sir!"

This rather exasperated old Barney at first. However, after someviolent explanations they were grudgingly given a passage out to theanchored yacht, Barney grumbling at doing it for nothing!

Rover was not included in the bargain; for, he disdained adventuring hisvaluable person in a small row-boat, no inducement being ever strongenough to persuade him so to do. He was quite satisfied to swim outafter the boys had started off in the wherry, being lugged subsequentlyon board the cutter by his legs and tail as soon as they fetchedalongside. 

For some little time after Bob and Dick got on board, both were verybusy, Bob dipping overboard a bucket that had a "becket" of rope for ahandle, and a longer rope bent on to this with which he proceeded tohaul the bucket up again, full of sea-water, wherewith he sluiced thedecks fore and aft thoroughly; while Dick, on his part, scrubbed theplanks with a piece of "holystone, " then adroitly drying them with amop, which he could twirl now, after a little experience, with all thedexterity of an old salt!

When the little cutter was thus presently made "a-taunto" by theirmutual exertions, they sat down to rest for awhile, Dick sharing hisluncheon of bread-and-cheese with Bob, who, of course, had long sinceconsumed the slices of bread-and-butter he had brought out with him forhis breakfast. 

By and by, on a gentle breeze springing up from the southward andwestward, Master Bob, boylike, suggested their slipping the _Zephyr's_moorings and going for a little sail out into the offing. 

"We needn't run very far, " he said. "Say, only to the fort there andback again, you know. "

But Dick would not hear of the proposal. 

"No, Master Bob, not lest the Cap'en gived orders, " he remonstrated. "Why, he'd turn me off if I did it; and, he's that kind to me as Iwouldn't like to vex him, no not for nothing!"

"He wouldn't mind me though, " argued Bob. "Didn't he say the otherday--why, you heard him tell Hellyer yourself--that he'd back you and meto manage a boat against any two boys in Portsmouth, aye, or any port onthe south coast?"

"Ees, I heerd him, " reluctantly assented the other; "but that didn'tmean fur us to go out in the boat alone. "

"Well, Dick, I didn't think you were a coward!" said Bob with greatcontempt, angry at being thwarted. "I really didn't. "

This cut the other to the heart. 

"You doesn't mean that, Master Bob, " he exclaimed reproachfully, hesitating to utter his scathing reply. "Ah, you didn't say as I wer' acoward that time as I jumped into the water arter you behind thecastle. "

"Forgive me, Dick, " cried Bob impulsively, "I was a beast to say such athing! Of course, I know you are not a coward; but, really, I'm surethe Captain would not mind a bit our going for a sail--especially if heknew, and he does know, about my being left behind all alone while theyall have gone off to Southampton in the steamer enjoying themselves!"

This last appeal made Dick hesitate; and, in hesitating thus, he losthis firmness of resolution. 

"Well, Master Bob, if we only goes a little ways and you promises fur tocome back afore the tide turns, I don't mind unmooring for a bit;though, mind, Master Bob, you'll bear all the blame if the Cap'en saysanythink about it!"

"Of course I will, Dick, if he does; but I know he won't say anything. You may make your mind easy on that score!" With these words, Bobsprang forward on the fo'c's'le and began loosening the jib from itsfastenings; while Dick, now that his scruples were overcome, set to workcasting off the gaskets of the mainsail, the two boys then manning thehalliards with a will, and hoisting the throat of the sail well up. 

The jib was then set, its sheet being slackened until Dick slipped thebuoy marking the yacht's moorings overboard; when, the tack being hauledaft, and the mainsail peaked, the bows of the cutter paid off and shewalked away close-hauled, standing out towards "No Man's Fort, " on thestarboard tack. 

It was now past midday and the tide was making into the harbour; sothat, as the wind from the south-west had got rather slight, veeringround to the southwards, the cutter did not gain much of an offing, losing in leeway nearly all she got in beating out to windward. 

"I vote we let her run off a little towards the Nab, " said Bob, seeingwhat little progress they made towards the fort; and he, being thesteersman, put the helm up, easing off at the same time the sheet of themainsail; Dick, who was in the bows, attending to the jib. "It's awfulpoor fun drifting like this!"

"Mind you turns back agen when the tide begins to run out!" premisedDick. "You promised as we wasn't to go fur!"

"All right, " replied Bob, "I won't forget. "

But, now, a strange thing happened. 

No sooner had the cutter's bows been turned to the eastwards, thanRover, who had previously been looking very uneasy, standing up with hishind legs on one of the thwarts and his fore-paws on the taffrailastern, gazing anxiously behind at the land they were leaving, all atonce gave vent to a loud unearthly howl and sprang overboard. 

"Hi, Rover, come back, sir!" yelled out Bob, at the pitch of hisvoice--"Rover, come back!"

But, the dog, although hitherto always obedient to his young master'scall, paid no attention to it now, turning a deaf ear to all hiswhistles and shouts and swimming steadily towards the shore. 

"Poor Rover, he'll be drownded, sure-ly!" said Dick. "Don't 'ee thinkwe'd better go arter he, poor chap?"

"Not a bit of it!" replied Bob, angry at the dog's desertion, as hethought it, putting down Rover's behaviour to some strange dislike onhis part to being in the yacht, at all events when she was movingbriskly through the water. "He has swum twice as far in the river inLondon, and I won't go after him!"

Bob, however, brought the little yacht up to the wind again, watchinguntil Rover was seen to emerge from the sea and crawl up on the beachagain; when the cutter's head was allowed to pay off again, and within acouple of hours or so, although neither of the boys took any note of howthe time was going, they had not only passed the Nab but were nownearing the Ower's light-ship. 

Not till then did Dick become aware how far they had reached out, Portsmouth having long since disappeared and even the forts beginning toshow hazy to windward; while Selsea Bill loomed up on their port hand. 

"Master Bob, Master Bob!" he cried in consternation, never having beenso far out before, even with the Captain. "Do 'ee know where we benow?"

"Why, out at sea, to be sure!" said Bob, his face all aglow with delightat gliding thus like Byron's corsair-- "O'er the glad waters of the deepblue sea. "

For his soul certainly was, for the moment, quite as "boundless" and his"thoughts as free, " from all consideration, save of the present--"Isn'tit jolly?"

"Well, I doesn't know about that, " replied Dick, looking very glum. "I'm a-thinking of the gitting back; which, wi' the tide a-setting outfrom the harbour, won't be so easy, I knows!"

"Nonsense, Dick!" said Bob in his usual off-hand way, though bringingthe cutter up to the wind, so as to go about on the other tack. "You'refrightening yourself really, my boy, about nothing! The wind has gotround more to the south; so we'll be able to run back to Portsmouth inno time. The cutter is a very good boat, so the Captain says, on awind!"

However, "Man proposes and God disposes. "

The wind suddenly dropped, just as the tide turned, the ebb setting outfrom Spithead towards the east, dead against them; when, instead ofrunning in homewards "in no time, " the cutter, after a time, becamebecalmed first, and then gradually began to drift out into the openChannel again. 

Dick was the first to notice this. 

"Look, Master Bob!" he cried. "We aren't making no headway at all! Idon't see we're getting any the nearer to the Nab!"

"We will, soon, " replied Bob, all hopeful. "It's only because thebreeze has dropped a bit. Before long, we'll pick it up again! Ithink, Dick, we'd better slacken off the sheets and let her bear awaymore!"

This was done; but, still the _Zephyr_ would not move. 

She had net way enough, indeed, to answer her helm; for, her bowspointed west, and south, and east, alternately, as the tidal eddiesswayed her in this direction and that. 

"I knewed we was doin' wrong, " remarked Dick presently, after a longsilence in which neither of the boys spoke a word. "It's a judgment onus!"

"A fiddlestick!" retorted Bob. "We'll only drift about like this for ashort time; and, when the tide turns again, it will sweep us back toSpithead like one o'clock!"

"I doesn't believe that, Master Bob, " said Dick disconsolately, sittingdown on a thwart, and looking longingly at a faint speck in the distancewhich he thought was Southsea; although they were almost out of sight ofland now, the swift current carrying the boat along nearly four knots anhour. "We should ha' tuk warnin', Master Bob, by Rover. He knowed whatwer' a-coming and so he swum ashore in time, he did!"

"Rover is a faithless creature!" cried Bob hotly. "I'll give him a goodlicking when we reach the land again, you see!"

"When'll that be, Master Bob?"

"Oh, some time or other before night, " replied he defiantly, but Dickcould easily tell from his tone of voice that he did not speak quite sobuoyantly as before; and his already long face grew longer as the daywore on without the breeze springing up again or any change ofcircumstances. 

They did not pass a single ship near, notwithstanding that they sawseveral with all their sails set, their loftier canvas catching a fewlingering puffs of air that did not descend low enough to affect thecutter. The sight of these vessels moving, however, raised theirdrooping spirits, Bob and Dick thinking that the wind by and by wouldaffect them, too. 

But no breeze came; and all the while they were being carried furtherand further out to sea. 

"Hallo, there's a steamer!" sang out Bob after another protractedsilence between the pair. "I see her smoke easily. She's steeringright for us!"

"Where?" asked Dick. "I doesn't see no steamer, Master Bob. "

"There!" said the other, pointing to a long white line on the horizon. "There she is, blowing off her steam, or her funnel smoking, quiteplain!"

"Lor', Master Bob!" ejaculated the other, after peering fixedly for amoment where his companion directed him to look. "That arn't no steamor smoke as ever I seed. It be a cloud, or fog, I knows; or summut o'that sort, sure-ly, Master Bob!"

Bob, however, would not be persuaded of this, persisting that he wasright and Dick wrong. 

"I don't know where your eyes can be!" he said scornfully. "I'll betanything it's a steamer; or, I never saw one!"

But ere another hour had passed over their heads, Dick was proved to bethe true prophet; he, the false!

The low-lying bank of vapour, which originally resembled the trail ofsmoke from some passing steam-vessel on her way down Channel, graduallyspread itself out along the horizon. 

It then rose up, like a curtain, from the sea; and, stretching up itsclammy heads towards the zenith, widened over the heavens until it shutout the western sun from their gaze, making the still early afternoonseem as night. 

Creeping over the surface of the sullen water with ghostly footsteps, the mist soon shrouded the boat in its pall-like folds; impregnating thesurrounding atmosphere with moisture and making the boys believe it wasraining, though never a drop fell. 

It was only a sea-fog, that was all. 

But it was accompanied by a dampness that seemed like the hand of Death!

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. 

"SHIP, AHOY!"

"It is the last straw, " says the proverb, "that breaks the camel'sback!"

Bob's courage had been on the wane long before the white, woolly fogenvironed them; although, up to now he had endeavoured to brave it outin the presence of Dick, the very consciousness that he was the maincause of their being in such a perilous predicament preventing him frombetraying the fears he felt. 

But, when this octopus of the air clutched them in its corpse-like grip, breathing its wet vapoury breath into their faces, soddening theirclothes with heavy moisture and slackening their energies as it hadalready damped their hopes of a steam-vessel coming to the rescue, Bob, whose nerves were strained to their utmost tension, at last broke down. 

"Oh, Dick!" he cried, bursting into a passion of tears, all the morevehement now from his ever having been a manly boy and in the habit ofstifling all such displays of emotion, even when severely hurt, as hadhappened on more than one occasion in a football scrimmage at school, whence he got the name of Stoic amongst his mates. "Oh, Dick, poorDick! I'm sorry I made you come with me to your death! I wonder whatmy mother and dad will say, and Nell too, when they come to learn thatwe are lost?"

"Don't 'ee now, Master Bob, give way like that!" said

Dick, the brave lad, forgetting his own sad plight on seeing his unhappycomrade's alarm and grief. "Cheer up, Master Bob, like a good sort! Webean't lost yet, ye knows!"

"I'm afraid we are, Dick! I'm afraid we are!" sobbed Bob, as the pairof unfortunates got gradually wetter and more miserable, if that werepossible; the density of the atmosphere around them increasing so thatit seemed as if they were enveloped in a drenching cloud, this mist ofthe sea being the offspring of the waters, and consequently taking afterits humid parent. "Why, we're miles and miles away from land, anddrifting further and further off every moment! Oh, Dick, we're lost--we're lost!"

"Now, don't 'ee, Master Bob, don't 'ee!" cried Dick, folding one of hisarms, like a mother, round the other's neck and drawing him towards himto comfort him. "We ain't a bit lost yet, I tell 'ee, sure-ly. Why, weain't at sea as you says at all. We be ounly in the h'offin'hereabouts. "

This woke up Bob to argument. 

"Only the offing, you say, Dick?" he replied, with some of his olddogmatism as they drifted on and on, the ebb-tide that was bearing themaway on its bosom lapping against the sides of the boat with amelancholy sound, though almost deadened by the oppressiveness of thedamp sea-fog. "Do you know how wide the Channel is `hereabouts, ' as yousay?"

"No, Master Bob, " said the other lad humbly. "I doesn't. I ain't noscholard, as you knows. "

"Then, I'll tell you, " rejoined Bob triumphantly. "It must be nearly ahundred miles wide here between the French and English coasts!"

Dick, however, was not abashed by this broad statement. 

"That mebbe, Master Bob, " he replied modestly, scratching the back ofhis neck where one of his damp locks of hair tickled him at the moment. "But, I heard the Cap'en say ounly t'other day as how there was so manyships a-passing up and down as a boat adrift wer' bound to be sighted!"

"But, suppose a hundred ships passed us, " said Bob, who would not becomforted, in spite of all Dick's efforts. "Why, old chap, theycouldn't see us! The fog would prevent them!"

"Lor', so her would!" assented Dick, unable to gainsay this argument. "I forgets that, I did, sure-ly!"

After a time, Bob's sobs ceased and he began to think of something else;something that affected him, for the moment, even more strongly than hisfears. 

"I'm awfully hungry, Dick, " he said. "Have you got any more bread-and-cheese left?"

"No, not a scrap, " was the melancholy answer. "I giv' yer half, shareand share alike; and I've ate every crumb o' mine!"

"Isn't there anything in the locker?"

"Nothing, but the Cap'en's hatchet! Don't you bear in mind as how Iscrubbed her out afore we started?"

"Yes, so you did, I recollect, " replied Bob moodily, his appetite beingwell-nigh unbearable from its insatiable gnawing. "How do you feel, Dick?"

"I feels as if I could eat the h'elephant we seed in the circus. "

This made Bob laugh hysterically. 

"I think I could, too, " he said, between his paroxysms of laughter andsobs. "I never felt so hungry in my life before!"

Another interval of silence followed this confession. 

"I'll tell 'ee what, Master Bob, " observed Dick, on their comparingnotes again presently, when both acknowledged to being cold and wet andmiserable. "Let us crawl into the cabin and lie down, hey? It'll bewarmer than here, sure-ly!"

"So it will, " cried Bob, getting up and stretching his limbs, which werestiff with cramp from sitting so long in the damp air; the fog aroundthem appearing to get all the thicker as the time passed. "I wonderneither of us thought of that before?"

The two then crept in under the half-deck; and, covering themselves upwith the cutter's gaff-topsail, which had been placed within the cabinalong with some spare canvas, dropped off into a sound slumber, forgetting their sad plight and their hunger alike, in sleep, the yachtmeanwhile still floating along, down Channel, in a west-by-northdirection with the ebb. 

Their rest did not last long. 

Bob was suddenly awakened from a dream of a wonderful banquet, which hewas enjoying, by a sort of rushing gurgling sound; while the boat rockedto and fro at the same time uneasily. 

Rubbing his eyes, he started up and listened for a moment. 

Then, he shook Dick to arouse him. 

"Hullo! Wake up!" he cried. "The wind has sprung up again; and, Ithink, we're moving through the water!"

"I'll soon find out, " said Dick, going outside and putting his hand overthe gunwale, calling out the instant afterwards, "You're right, MasterBob! We be moving, right enough. Aye, so we be, sure-ly!"

"I wonder where Portsmouth is?" remarked Bob, as the two cogitated whatwas best to be done, their hopes rising with the welcome breeze;although this was only very feeble as yet, not being sufficient, indeed, to blow away the fog that still hung over the sea. 

"If we only knew whereabouts we was we'd know where to steer; but we'veturned about sich a lot, that I'd be puzzled to tell. "

"So would I, " agreed Bob. "But, I tell you what I think. Let us runbefore the wind. It'll be sure to bring us somewhere, at all events, inthe end!"

"Aye, that it would, sure-ly, Master Bob, " cried Dick, surprised at theother's cleverness. "I declare I never as much as thought o' that!"

Thereupon, they wore the little cutter round, she having been previouslygoing like a crab sideways, which fully accounted for the lively motionthat had aroused them; and, Bob having stationed himself at the helm, which he had put hard over, Dick mounted up on the fo'c's'le to act aslook-out, in case they should run against anything in the semi-darknessaround them, or, more happily still, come in sight of land. 

They had not long occupied their respective positions, when Bob'sattention was attracted by a cry of alarm from his companion in thebows. 

"Lawks a mussy!" yelled out Dick in accents of unfeigned terror. "Isees a white ghostess a-flying down on us, with big wings like ah'angel!"

"Nonsense, Dick!" cried Bob from aft, trying to peer ahead under thebelly of the sail as he was sitting to leeward. "There are no suchthings as ghosts; and, besides, I don't see anything at all but the fogand the water!"

"Oh, lawks, Master Bob!" screamed the frightened Dick in answer to this. "Look t'other side and then you'll p'r'aps believe me. Look t'otherside! Look t'other side! I bees afeered! I bees afeered!"

Bob shifted his seat to windward, so as to get a better view forwardsand see what had alarmed Dick. 

"Why, Dick, it's a ship!" he exclaimed in an ecstasy of delight the nextinstant. "What you thought are angel's wings are the vessel's sails, though they are angel's wings to us!"

"Be her a real ship, Master Bob?" asked Dick, having another peep at thesuspicious object and still not quite convinced as yet. "Sure-ly?"

"Of course she is, I tell you, " cried Bob. "Look out now and let go thejib-sheet as I luff up. I'm going to lay-to, for the ship is coming upwith us rapidly and will run us down if we don't take care!"

She was diminishing the distance between them quickly enough. 

A big ship she looked, too, appearing all the larger from theintervening veil of mist, which magnified her proportions wonderfully, in similar fashion to the "Fata Morgana" seen sometimes in Italianwaters. 

Like as in the same spectral phenomenon, too, this vessel seemed to begliding towards them without sound or apparent motion. 

She was a veritable phantom of the deep!

There were no lights visible on her, nor did it look as if any one wason the watch. 

So far as the boys could judge from the ocular evidence before them, there might really not have been a single soul on board. 

But, whether that was the case or no, on she came steadily towards thembow on, emerging bigger and bigger from the ghostly mist, each movementsensibly affecting her and increasing her size; so that, presently, shebecame a monster ship. 

She came too near to be pleasant, however, without sheering either toright or aft. 

It looked as if she were going to run them down!

Bob and Dick's hopes of a rescue paled before the imminent dread of acollision that now stared them in the face--nay, was close at hand. 

"Shout, Dick! Shout out with me as loud as you can so as to wake themup on board and make them see us!" cried Bob, letting go the tiller andstanding up on top of the stern locker. "Now, all together, Dick!Ship, ahoy! Ship, ahoy!"

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. 

DRIFTING. 

"Help, ahoy, look out!" sang out Bob and Dick in chorus, well-nighparalysed with fright. "Ahoy there, look out ahead!"

But, in spite of their cries, the phantom ship, whose proportions becameall the more magnified the nearer she approached, rose upon themsteadily out of the mist, growing into a gruesome reality each second, her hull towering over the little cutter as she bore down upon her, likea giant above a pigmy!

"Help, ahoy, look out there!" they once more shouted frantically. "Help--ahoy!"

It was all in vain, though, their shouts and cries being unnoticed. 

The next moment the on-coming vessel struck them, fortunately not end-onor amidships, but in a slanting fashion, her cutwater sliding by thegunwale of the cutter, from bow to stern, with a harsh, grating soundand a rasping movement that shook their very vitals--the little yachtheeling over the while until she was almost on her beam-ends. 

Had the vessel caught her midships, she would have at once crushed herlike an eggshell; as it was, the fluke of one of her anchors, which washanging from her bows ready for letting go in case of emergency, thebarque being not yet clear of soundings, got foul of the cutter'srigging, sweeping her mast and boom away, the stays snapping under thestrain as if they were packthread. 

Poor little cutter! She was left a complete wreck and nearly full ofwater; still rocking to and fro from the violence of the collision, evenafter the craft that had done all the mischief had again, seemingly, re-transformed herself into a phantom ship and faded away in the mist thathung over the sea, like the creation of a dream!

It was a very bad dream, though; and Bob and Dick gave themselves up forlost altogether. 

Their fate, drifting helplessly about, an hour or so before, hungry andmiserable, had seemed desperate enough; but their slight sleep, with thesubsequent awakening to the knowledge that the wind had sprung up againand was bearing them once more in some certain direction, had restoredtheir courage and revived their hopes. 

This courage, too, had became more courageous, this hope more hopeful onthe approach of the barque; for, they believed she would take them onboard and restore them by and by to their friends, advancing sogallantly as she did towards them, like an angel, so Dick thought. 

But, now!

What were the calamities which they so recently bewailed in comparisonwith the present?

Then, the yacht might have been at the mercy of the mist and tide; butshe was still staunch and sound, capable when a breeze blew once more ofwafting them home--whereas, now, the little cutter was dismasted andwater-logged, nay, even sinking for all they knew!

Thus, their present position was a thousandfold more terrible than theone before. 

But, still, only boys though they were, hope did not yet quite desertthem. 

The indomitable courage of youth triumphed over disaster. 

For a few seconds neither could speak. 

However, when the ship had disappeared, going away as silently as shehad approached them, they bestirred themselves to see what damage thecutter had sustained. 

Bob was the first to recall his scattered wits. 

"Well, they haven't sunk us, as I was afraid they would, Dick!" said he. "I wonder if any of the planks are really started?"

"How can we see, Master Bob?" asked Dick anxiously. "So as to know ifshe be all right?"

"Why, by baling her out, " he answered. "If we lessen the water in her, then we'll know she's all right. "

"But if the water don't go down?"

"Then, _we_ will!" replied Bob rather curtly. "Have you got anything tobale her out with?"

"Well, Master Bob, " observed Dick, grinning, "fur a young gen'leman asis so sharp, you've got a orful bad mem'ry! Don't 'ee recollect thebooket as ye helped me fur to wash down the decks wi' this verymarnin'?"

"Dear me, Dick, I declare I quite forgot that!" said Bob, with a laugh, seeing Dick's grin; for, it was not so dark now in their immediatevicinity, the breeze having lifted the fog slightly from the surface ofthe water. "Where is the bucket stored?"

"In the locker, joost by 'ee, " was Dick's response, as he waded throughthe water and came up to his companion. "Stop, I'll get 'im for 'ee!I'll have to make a dive fur he, though!"

"Have you got it?" inquired Bob, after Dick had groped about for sometime, popping his head under water and coming up at intervals forbreath. "Have you got it?"

"'Ees, " said he at length, lugging out the bucket, "I've got 'im!"

Then, they set to work, each using it alternately. 

The exertion did them both good, too, standing up as they were to theirmiddles in water; for, it prevented them shivering with cold as they hadbefore done. 

Bucketful after bucketful they emptied over the side; and, still theydid not appear to decrease the quantity the cutter contained to anyappreciable extent, bale they, as they baled, their hardest!

Gradually, however, the after-thwart became clear. 

"Hooray!" exclaimed Bob. "We're gaining on it. "

This inspired them with renewed strength; and, after nearly an hour'shard work, they had so lessened the water that only a small portion nowremained washing about under the bottom boards of the boat, which, recovering all her old buoyancy, floated again with a high freeboard, light as a cork, above the surface of the sea, instead of being levelwith it as before. 

"That's a good job done!" said Dick. "I wish that theer murderin' shephadn't a-bruk our mast; fur, we'd soon been all right!"

"While you're about it, Dick, " said Bob, "you might, just as well, wishshe hadn't carried the mast and boom away with her. I don't believethey've left us anything!"

No, the colliding ship had made a "clean sweep" of all their spars andrigging and everything; hardly a rope's-end remaining attached to thecutter, beyond a part of the mainsheet and a bit of the forestay, whichlatter was hanging down from the bowsprit, the only spar the yacht hadleft. 

Not a single thing of all her deck-fittings, either, had the littlevessel to the good; even her tiller had been wrenched off and the ruddersmashed. 

Nor were there any oars left in the little craft; though, even if therehad been, the yacht was too heavy for boys like Bob and Dick to havemade her move at the most infinitesimal rate of speed. 

It is true, there was the old gaff-topsail still in the fore-peak, aswell as a spare jib; but they had nothing to spread them out to the windwith, or affix them to. 

They were, in fact, oar-less, sail-less, helpless!

"I don't see what we can do, " said Bob, when they had looked over allthe boat, in case something perchance might have escaped their notice. "We can only hope and pray!"

"Aye, do 'ee pray, Master Bob, " replied Dick eagerly. "P'r'aps God'llhear us and send us help!"

So, then and there the two boys knelt down together side by side in thebattered boat, that drifted about at the mercy of the wind and sea, imploring the aid of Him who heeds those who call upon Him for succour, in no wise refusing them or turning a deaf ear to their prayers!

By and by, as if in answer to their earnest supplications, the daydawned; when, the mist, which yet lingered over the water, hanging abouthere and there in little patches, like so many floating islands, waseither swallowed up by the sea or absorbed into the air, as if by magic. 

Bob and Dick now got some idea as to the points of the compass, even ifthey were not able to tell precisely where they were; for, as the dayadvanced, a rosy tinge crept upwards over a far-off quarter of thehorizon which they knew instinctively to be the east, the birthplace ofall light!

This tint, almost like a blush, spread quickly over the sky, reachingaway to the north and again south, coming full in both their faces andmaking them glow. 

The bright hue then gradually melted into a ruddier tone, which firstdarkened into purple and red and then rapidly changed to a greenish sortof neutral tone that, after an interval, finally became merged into thepure ultramarine of the zenith; for, the heavens were now as clear as abell, no mist or fog or cloud obscuring the expanse of the empyrean. 

A sort of golden vapour then, all of a sudden, flooded the east, whichin another second gave place to the red rays of the crimson sun; thoughthe latter did not seem so much to rise, but rather appeared to Bob, whowas watching intently the various changes that occurred, to jump in aninstant above the sea, glorifying it far and near with its presence andwarming it into life, This warmth soon cheered the boys, as the light banished the despondentfeelings inseparable, as a rule, from darkness and, beyond that, thedeath-like stillness around, which had previously added to their fears, was banished by the new stir and movement observable in everything. 

Previously, the sea had risen and fallen tumidly, as if Father Neptunehad been asleep and its monotonous pulsation was caused by his deep, long-drawn breathing; but, now, it crisped and sparkled in the sunshine, whilst its surface was broken by innumerable little wavelets, likecurls, that grew into swell-crested billows anon, and, later on still, into great rolling waves as the wind got up--this blowing steadily fromthe eastwards first and then veering round south, following the courseof the orb whose heat gave it being. 

Nor was inanimate nature only stirring. 

Grey and silver sea-gulls hovered over the little cutter, all sweepingdown curiously every now and then to see what the boys were doing therein that mastless and oar-less boat out on the wide waters; and, presently, a shoal of mackerel rose round about them, so thickly thatDick thought he could scoop up some in the buckets, only the fish weretoo wary and dived down below the surface the moment he stretched hisarm out over the side beyond his reach. 

A couple of porpoises, too, swam by, playing leap-frog again; and, afterthese, a much larger monster, which might possibly have been a grampus, though Bob could tell nothing about it, not knowing what it was. Themovements of all these, with the constantly-changing appearance of thesea, now blue, now green, now brown, as some cloud shadow passed overit, made up a varied panorama such as neither of the two lads ever sawor thought of before!

Ships, also, hove in sight and disappeared on the horizon, their whitesails gleaming out in the far-off distance; one moment high in the airas if bound skywards, the next sinking into the curving depths of thesea. 

Now and again, too, the smoke-wreath of some passing steamer, coastingalong more speedily than the sailing craft, would sacrilegiously blotthe blue of the heavens!

But, all the while, though the distant ships might sail along to theirhaven, and the steamers shape shorter courses to their port independentof wind and tide alike, the poor dismasted, dismantled little yacht wasthe sport of all alike; first setting down Channel with the ebb, as ifgoing out on a cruise into the wide Atlantic, and then again up Channelwith the flood towards Dover. 

The boat was ever drifting and tossed about ever, like a batteredshuttlecock, by the battledore currents, some four of which contend forthe mastery throughout the livelong day in that wonderful waterway, theEnglish Channel; two always setting east, relieving each other in turn, and two west, with a cross-tide coming atop of them, twice in everytwenty-four hours, trying fruitlessly to soothe the differences of thequarrelsome quartette!

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. 

DESPAIR!

"How hot it be, Master Bob!" said Dick, when the sun had climbed so highthat he seemed right overhead, sending down his rays vertically andmaking it so warm that the boys began to perspire, while they weretormented with thirst. "I be parched wi' drout and could swaller agallon o' spring wutter if I hed the chance!"

"I say, let us have a swim, " suggested Bob. "I've heard it will relievea person suffering from thirst; and, besides, I believe it will do usboth good and freshen us up. "

"All right, Master Bob, " said Dick somewhat hesitatingly, in reply tothis proposition. "But, ain't it deep here?"

"Deep! What does that matter?" replied Bob lightly. "Why, Dick, yousilly fellow, you forget we always used to swim out every morning intodeep water. Ah, I forget, I forget! Oh, --mother, my mother!"

The poor boy broke down utterly again at this point, it having suddenlyflashed across his memory that his former swims from the beach werethings of the past; and that he might never see his mother or any of thehome folk again. 

No, never, ah, never again!

Dick, however, once more comforted him, ceasing to dwell on his ownpangs of thirst; although the lad's tongue had swollen to such a sizethat it seemed too big for his mouth, and his lips were all parched andcracked. 

A little later, when Bob had become more composed again, his idea of abattle was carried out, the boys making use of their solitary rope, theend of the broken forestay that was hanging from the bowsprit, to climbback into the boat after they had had a dip alongside. 

They were not able to swim far, being incapable of much exertion; butthe plunge alone and the immersion in the water while holding to therope's-end refreshed them greatly, making them feel stronger, inaddition to allaying their burning thirst. 

Still, when this great longing was quenched, they were tortured withhunger, Dick actually tearing off one of the soles of his boots andsetting to work gnawing it. 

Bob kept up his spirits so far as to make fun of this, chaffing hiscompanion and saying that he preferred the way in which the Captainserved up his soles to Dick's!

"Ah, " said the other in reply, "I wonder what the good Cap'en 'ud thinkif he seed us now?"

"Why, that we were two unfortunate fellows!" replied Bob, becoming graveagain in an instant. "I'm sure he would pity us from the bottom of hisheart!"

Thus the long day wore on; although, it seemed as if it would never end!

However, when night came round again, they wished they had yet the day;it was so dark, so dreary, so eerie, pitching and rolling about there, carried hither and thither as the tide listed, with never a vista of thewished-for land, with never a sound but the sobbing sea. 

Yet, it was wonderful how the boys encouraged each other to bear up andbe hopeful, in spite of everything. 

Whenever, in the early morning previously and during the day in theirrespective sufferings, one or the other grew despondent Dick cheered Boband Bob cheered Dick, as the case might be. 

Then, somehow or other, the principal portion of the cheering-up workwas borne by Dick; the very brightness and look of everything, evenwhile he noticed them, seeming to have the effect of depressing Bob'sspirits by some unknown association or connection with those at home. 

At night, however, it was Bob's turn to sustain the drooping courage ofDick, who, like most country-bred lads, was intensely superstitious, fancying the darkness to swarm with ghosts and goblins, who were on thewatch to devour him; the boy, while bearing up bravely against palpableprivations and open dangers, staring them in the face, from which grownmen would have quailed, was now affected by silly fears which a babywould have blushed to own!

All through the wearisome hours of the dragging night, whose minuteswere as iron and hours like lead, he was constantly starting up innervous terror; the moan of the sea, the cry of some belated sea-gull, the plunge of a fish in the water, nay even the creaking of the boat'sown timbers, with each and all of which Dick was perfectly familiar, alike arousing his frenzied alarm. 

It was, "Lawks, Master Bob! what be this now?" throughout the terribleinterval that elapsed between the fading of the twilight on the one dayand sunrise on the next. "Lor', what's that?"

And, that next day!

The boys were weaker then, for very nearly eight-and-forty hours hadelapsed since they had been on board the cutter; forty-eight hourswithout food, without any regular sleep, without any real rest even, astheir attention was always kept on the alert, while, all the time, theperil they were in was sufficient alone to have crushed their everyenergy!

Hope, undying hope that had kept them up so long, now left them at last. Who could hope against such continual disappointment, with ships allaround them sometimes and yet never a one to come near where theyfloated and drifted and gave way to their despair?

Towards the evening of this day Dick got very weak. 

Strange to say, although brought up in the country and accustomed, probably, all his early life, at any rate, to exposure and hard living, Dick was not able to bear up against their present sufferings by anymeans so well as Bob, who, on this third night of their being adrift, was yet full of vitality!

It was in vain for him, though, to try and reanimate Dick, who, hopeless, and almost helpless, lay down in the bottom of the boat, onlyasking to be left alone to die. 

"I'm a-dying, Master Bob, " he gasped out faintly, when Bob tried toraise him up. "Let me be; let me be!"

"Dying, nonsense, " repeated Bob, pretending to joke about it; though, truth to say, he felt in little joking mood then, being almost as weakas his companion. "You are worth twenty dead men yet, as the oldCaptain would say!"

But, in spite of all his encouraging words, Dick grew gradually weakerand weaker; until, towards midnight, his breathing became so very faintthat Bob could hardly feel it, though kneeling down close beside him andwith his face touching that of poor Dick. 

"I'm a-dying--Master Bob, " he whispered, in such low accents that Bobhad to bend down his ear close to his mouth to hear what he said. "Ibees--a-dying--Mas-ter--Bob. I knows--I--be! I--hears--the--h'angels--a-flapping on their wings! I knows they be a-coming--for--me! God--bless--'ee, Mas-ter--Bob! Ah, if--'ee--ever--get--'shore--'gain--tell--Cap'--I--didn't--mean--no--'arm!"

Soon after faltering out these broken words, Dick fell back insensiblein the bottom of the boat. 

"Oh, Dick, poor Dick, good Dick!" sobbed out Bob, throwing himself downbeside him on the floor of the boat's little cabin and bursting into anagony of tears. "It is I who have killed you. But for me, you wouldnever have been here at all! Poor, brave Dick, you saved my life, andin return I've killed you!"

The torture of mind in which he now was on seeing, as he thought, Dickdead before him, coupled with all he had already gone through, but ofwhich he had taken little heed while he had his comrade to console, nowcoming together affected Bob's mind. 

He began to wander in delirium, imagining himself not only safe ashore, but in his London home, amid all the surroundings to which he had beenaccustomed before coming to Southsea and to this sad extremity. 

He thought it was Sunday and that he was going to church with his motherand Nell; and that he was late, as usual, and they were calling him tohurry. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he screamed out in such a shrill voice, attenuated by famine, as hardly to be recognised as human, so shrillthat it startled the sea-gulls hovering over the boat. "I'm coming!There's lots of time, the bells are ringing still! The bells areringing, I hear them!--Ring--ring--ring--I--hear--I hear--I--"

Then he, too, lost consciousness and fell, like a log, insensible, across the body of poor Dick; the far-off bell which he had fancied tobe ringing miles and miles distant from where the boat was floating inthe Channel, being the last echo that sounded in his ears as he faintedaway. 

But, there was reason in his madness. 

A bell was ringing; and ringing too realistically not to be real!

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. 

ON THE CASQUETTES. 

Bob's hearing was not at fault, this sense of his remaining perfectthough his mind was wandering; and so, the unwonted sound that fell uponhis ear had got woven amongst his delirious fancies. 

It was, without doubt, a real bell, which if it might not summon piousfolk to prayer, yet fulfilled almost as sacred a duty, warning, as itdid, poor mariners of impending peril and so answering the petition oftput up "for those travelling by sea. "

This ball belonged to the lighthouse-tower erected on the highest peakof the Casquettes, a terrible group of rocks jutting out into theChannel, just off the French coast hard by Alderney, some six miles tothe north-west of which island they lie. Rocks that are cruel andrelentless as the surges that sweep over them in stormy weather, andwhich are so quaintly named from their helmet, or "casque"-likeresemblance--rocks, concerning which the poet Swinburne has sung in hiseloquent verse, that breathes the very spirit of the sea in depictingthe strife of the elements:

 "From the depths of the waters that lighten and darken, With change everlasting of life and of death, Where hardly by morn if the lulled ear hearken It hears the sea's as a tired child's breath, Where hardly by night, if an eye dare scan it, The storm lets shipwreck be seen or heard, As the reefs to the waves and the foam to the granite Respond one merciless word. 

 "Sheer seen and far, in the sea's life heaven, A sea-mew's flight from the wild sweet land, White plumed with foam, if the wind wake, seven Black helms, as of warriors that stir, not stand, From the depths that abide and the waves that environ Seven rocks rear heads that the midnight masks; And the strokes of the swords of the storm are as iron On the steel of the wave-worn casques. 

 "Be night's dark word as the word of a wizard, Be the word of dawn as a god's glad word, Like heads of the spirits of darkness visored That see not for ever, nor ever have heard, These basnets, plumed as for fight or plumeless, Crowned by the storm and by storm discrowned, Keep word of the lists where the dead lie tombless And the tale of them is not found!"

Hither the boat had drifted in the course of the three days that hadelapsed since she had been first becalmed off Spithead, or ratherbetween the Nab and Warner lights; for, it was then that the wind haddropped, leaving her at the mercy of the stream, going whither thecurrent willed. 

She had pursued a most erratic course, however, to reach this point. 

To commence with, she had floated on the ebb-tide, which for two hoursafter high-water runs south by west, out into the Channel past the Isleof Wight; the wind, slight as it was, that subsequently sprung up fromthe eastward, to which point it had veered after the sea-fog had risen, combined with the westward action of the tideway, making the littlevessel take almost a straight course across the stream of the currenttowards the French coast. 

When about midway, however, she got into a second channel current, whichswept her nearer and nearer to Cape La Hogue. 

Then, again, when still some miles out from the land, yet anothercurrent took charge of her, bringing her within the influence of thestrong indraught which runs into the Gulf of Saint Malo; by which, finally, she was wafted, in a circular way, up to "the Caskets, " or"Casquettes, " to adopt the proper French version. 

Here she had arrived at the time of Bob's delirium, drifting in closerand closer to the rocks, on which the cutter would probably have beendashed to pieces and her fragments possibly picked up anon on theopposite side of the Atlantic, had not fate intervened. 

It was in this wise. 

The little cutter drifted in near the rocks while it was still earlymorning; and the reason for the bell on the lighthouse ringing wasbecause some of the mist, or fog, that had been blown across theChannel, yet lingered in the vicinity, as if loth to leave altogetherthe waters over which it loved to brood. 

When, however, the rays of the bright morning sun sent this nightmare ofa mist to the right-about, a small French fishing lugger might have beenseen working out towards the offing from Saint Malo, giving the"Casquettes" a pretty wide berth you may be sure; those who have to dowith seafaring matters across Channel knowing full well of the dangerousrace that runs by the fatal rocks, ever seeking in its malice to engulphpassing crafts and bear them away to destruction!

Two men were in the lugger; one, as usual, attending to the helm, theother minding the sheets and sitting midway between the bows and sternof the vessel, so as to be handy when required and thus save unnecessarylocomotion. 

Sailors, it may here be mentioned in confidence, especially thosehailing from la belle France, never give themselves more trouble thanthey can help; which philosophic way of going through life might bestudied to advantage, perhaps, by some shore folk!

These mariners, consequently, were taking it very easy, the one forwardsitting on the break of the "fo'c's'le" and smoking a pipe, there notbeing much to do in the rope-hauling or letting go, as the lugger wasonly creeping lazily along through the almost still water with the aidof the light breeze then blowing. 

Presently, this latter gentleman, casting a casual eye around, spied thepoor mastless, derelict-looking little yacht, rolling about in the heavytide-race that was taking her on to the rocks. 

Instantly, sailor-like, he became all animation; taking his pipe out ofhis mouth and shouting out to his fellow-voyager astern with muchgesticulation. 

"Tiens, Jacques!" he cried, "voila un bateau qui courre sur lesbrisants!"

"Quoi?" carelessly asked the other. "Vous moquez vous!"

But the one who had first spoken repeated what he'd said, to the effectthat there was "a boat drifting on the rocks, and likely to be wrecked. ""Jacques, " however, as his comrade had called him, did not seem muchinterested in the matter, merely shrugging his shoulders, implying thatit was "none of his concern. "

"C'est bien, " said he. "Pas mon affaire. "

The other, though, seemed more taken with the little craft, climbing upa couple of steps into the rigging in order to have a better look ather. 

He had not gazed a moment when his excitement became intensified. 

"Mon Dieu, Jacques!" he sang out. "Il-y-a quelqu'un a bord! Deuxpersonnes, et des garcons je crois; mais, ils sont morts!"

"Pas possible, " cried the helmsman, showing a little more interest. "Really?"

"Parbleu, c'est vrai! Vire que nous nous en approchions. "

"C'est fait, " exclaimed Jacques, now quite as much excited--as theother, and eager to rescue any one in peril or distress, as every sailorof every nationality always is--that is, a true sailor. "Starboard itis!"

"Babord!" cried out Antoine, as the helmsman called him, telling thelatter he was to put the tiller over. "Port. "

Jacques replied by a counter order. 

"Toi, Antoine, " shouted he, "lache la grande voile!" meaning him to"slacken off the mainsheets, " whereupon the lugger was brought alongsidethe wreck of the cutter. 

Our friend Antoine, without wasting a moment, at once stepped on board, exclaiming, "Tenez bon dessus--Hold on. "

The man was shocked at what he saw, the dead bodies, as he thought, ofBob and Dick lying across each other on the floor of the little cabin, half in and half out of which the boys were exposed to his view at thefirst glance. 

"Pauvres garcons!" he cried in a husky voice, wiping away a tear thatsprang unbidden to his eye, with the characteristic ready emotionalsympathy of his countrymen. "Pauvres garcons. "

Jacques, who was a little longer in coming to inspect the derelict, hearing what his companion said, called out for further information. 

"De quel pays sont-ils?" he asked. "Can you tell their nationality?"

"Anglais, sans doute!" was his reply. "Je le crois par leur air. "

This made Jacques prick up his ears. 

"Comment?" said he; and, without waiting to hear anything else he, too, jumped down into the boat. "Anglais? Mon Dieu!"

Jacques was a man of common-sense; so, instead of contenting himselfwith staring at the apparently lifeless boys, as Antoine did, he bentdown to see whether they yet breathed. 

"Bete! Quant aux enfants, ils ne sont pas plus morts que toi ou moi!"he sang out indignantly. "You fool! The boys are no more dead than youor me. "

But Jacques was a kind-hearted man as well as one possessed of common-sense. 

So, under his directions, he and Antoine between them transshipped theapparently lifeless but still animate forms of Bob and Dick from thewrecked cutter into the fo'c's'le of the lugger, where a charcoal, firewas smouldering in a small stove on which simmered a saucepan containingsomething savoury, judging by its smell. 

Here Jacques proceeded to rub the bodies of the boys alternately with apiece of flannel dipped in spirit, which he first held in front of thestove to warm; Maitre Antoine, meanwhile, attending to the navigation ofthe lugger and guarding lest she should run upon the Casquettes, or getled astray out of her course by Alderney Race, a current of theseregions which, like the Saint Malo stream, is not to be played with whenthe wind's on shore!

Not content with merely rubbing them down with the spirit, Jacquespresently varied his external application of some brandy, a remedy withhim for most complaints to which flesh is heir, by administering to eachboy in turn a few drops internally of the spirit, forcing it dexterouslybetween their lips as soon as respiration was restored and they began tobreathe with some regularity; Bob, however, progressing much morerapidly than Dick, whose pulse obstinately remained feeble and barelyperceptible, while the author of all the mischief was nearly all right. 

Bob opened his eyes almost as soon as he tasted the brandy. 

"Where am I?" he stammered out, gazing round the little fo'c's'le of thelugger in wonder. "Where am I?"

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. 

JIM CRADDOCK. 

"Ah, le petit bon homme vit encore!" cried Antoine, hearing the voiceand bending over from his seat on the after-thwart, being anxious as tothe condition of the patients to whom Jacques was ministering. "Donnezlui encore d'eau de vie, mon ami!"

Jacques thereupon repeated the dose of brandy to Bob, who closed hiseyes again and leant back, the spirit and the sound of the strangelanguage, with the queer surroundings that had met his gaze on lookinground the fo'c's'le of the lugger, making him believe he was still in adream. 

"Where am I?" he presently repeated, rousing up again. "Where am I?"

"In France, " replied Jacques in English as good as his own, smiling ashe spoke. "At least, you're aboard a French vessel; and, that's as goodas being in France!"

"But, you are English, " replied Bob freely. "You are English, eh?"

"Yes, I'm English, " answered the other. "But, you had better not talknow. Wait till after you've taken some nice soup which I've got cookinghere that will put new strength into you, and then we'll tell each otherall about ourselves. "

He then left Bob to attend to Dick, whom it took considerably longer tobring round; although by administering a few drops of brandy atintervals, varied by an occasional spoonful every now and then of thesavoury soup from the saucepan on the fire, which was really a regularFrench stew, Dick became ultimately, as Bob already was through the sameregimen, much better--the poor boy now recovering his consciousness andbeing able to speak. 

The two invalids were then put to bed comfortably in a couple of bunkson either side of the fo'c's'le; while the lugger, whose name, by theway, was the _Jeanne d'Arc_, reached over towards the English coast, tosee what fishing she could get in those prohibited waters. 

Late in the afternoon, Bob and Dick both woke up refreshed; when, eachhad another jorum of the savoury soup, which Bob said subsequently wasthe nicest thing, he believed, he had ever tasted in his life! Theboys, then, feeling quite well, so to speak, went on to tell the kindsailors all about their adventures, Bob, of course, being the principalspokesman. 

"Ah!" observed Jacques. "You are living at Portsmouth, then?"

"No, I've only been stopping there for the season, " replied Bob. "But, I like it very much!"

"It's my native place, sir. I was born there!" cried Jacques. "Myfather was in the English navy; and my old mother, who is yet alive, hasa house of her own in the town! It's only through my having married aFrench wife that has took me over here along with the Parlyvoos!"

"How strange!" exclaimed Bob. "Why, we went to see only the other day aMrs Craddock, who has a daughter who's very ill, that my aunt Pollygoes to see; and she told us she had a son married to a French girl andhe was living at Saint Malo!"

"Why, that's me!" cried Jacques; although "Jacques" no longer to us. "I'm Jim Craddock, and the old lady that you saw is my mother! My word!this is a rum start!"

After the curious coincidence of Bob and Dick being rescued by the sonof "the old egg-woman, " as they always called her, between whom andthemselves Rover had in the original instance scraped an acquaintance, nothing would content Jim Craddock but that he must bear up at once forPortsmouth, and restore Bob and Dick to those who bewailed them as lost, as well as return the battered little yacht, which the lugger had in towastern, to her proper owner. 

The meeting between Bob and his parents is too sacred a matter to touchupon here; but, it is easy enough to imagine the delight of thosewelcoming one coming back to them as it were from the dead; Dick, too, being received like another son. 

As for Nellie, her joy was so great at beholding again her brother Bob, whom she loved so dearly, that she laughed till she cried and thenfainted; while, on her recovery, she laughed and cried again, though shedid not faint a second time!

But, you should only have seen Rover when he saw his young master. 

Sarah, "the good Sarah, " said that she would never forget "the way inwhich that there dog went on as long as she lived!"

Of course, it can be well understood that there were no ill-feelingsbetween Bob and the retriever anent the desertion of the latter from thecutter on the day of the boys' terribly punished escapade; though, themystery of the dog's swimming ashore so strangely on that memorableoccasion, it may be mentioned here, was never cleared up!

The Captain, it must be said, behaved much more unconcernedly thanRover. 

"By Jove! I told you they'd turn up all right!" said he, chuckling awayat such a rate that he could hardly stop to get out the next words. "Ialways told you so, didn't I ma'am--now, didn't I?"

"My gracious goodness, Cap'en Dresser, why you were the first to givethem up!" cried Mrs Gilmour laughing. "Sure, I never did see such aman!"

At this the Captain chuckled still more; and he then told Dick, whomevery one was as glad almost to see amongst them again as they were tosee Bob, that he intended, when he got strong enough, to send him intothe navy so as to prevent him from going to sea again!

After a few days' rest, in order to recuperate from the effects of thestrain on all their nerves, Bob's father said they must all go back totown, their holiday limit being at length reached. 

Bob and Nellie, on this intimation, began a round of leave-taking whichwould well-nigh have consumed another long holiday, to have been carriedout in accordance with their intention; for they wanted to say "good-bye!" to all their favourite haunts and many acquaintances of theanimate and inanimate world in turn. 

Yes, they must see once more the halcyon spot where they caught thePandalus, that gem of their aquarium; they had to bid adieu to MrsCraddock's cottage, and the old lady herself and daughter; and againinspect the place where the unfortunate _Bembridge Belle_ was wrecked. 

They had to give a handshake, too, to their friend Hellyer--and all hisfellow-coastguardsmen; besides having to go over the Captain's yacht, which had been sparred and rigged anew, the little _Zephyr_ looking now"as fresh as paint again" after her eventful vicissitudes adrift in theChannel. 

Aye, they paid farewell visits to every one and everything, and thenwanted to begin over again, it was so hard to part with them all!

At last, however, the ordeal was accomplished; and all their goods andchattels and new acquisitions, especially the aquarium and its variousoccupants, that terrible Mesembryanthemum included, being properlypacked up and labelled, behold the party one fine morning at therailway-station on their way to London as soon as the train shouldstart!

Here Rover, despite his frantic howls on escaping his former prison, wassnugly incarcerated in the guard's van; when the others, afterexchanging last words with Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, entered asaloon-carriage which had been reserved for them for the journey, Boband Nell, it may be taken for granted, being the last to get in, loth toleave "aunt Polly" and "that dear old sailor" who had won their hearts, as well as say "good-bye" to Dick, the whilom uninvited guest of theirfirst eventful journey "Down the line, " and subsequent faithfulcompanion of Bob in his wonderful adventures by sea and land. 

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. 

A LAST WORD. 

There was a warning shriek from the engine's steam-whistle, as if itwere impatient to be off, and angrily wanting to know why it was keptthus unnecessarily waiting. 

Following up the scream of the whistle came the last cling! clang! ofthe railway-porter's bell, telling belated passengers that "time" was"up. "

Next ensued the scrambling and scurrying of the aforesaid belatedpassengers, who always appear to put off making up their minds as towhether they shall start or not until the last moment of grace hasexpired. 

Then, finally, after much clanging of doors upon the backs of those thusnearly left behind, with a snort of indignation and defiance of thingsin general, and late passengers in particular, the panting, puffing, fuming iron horse metaphorically and practically "put his shoulder tothe wheel, " lugging the rolling, rumbling, heavy train out of thestation Londonwards, with a "puff-puff, pant-pant!" from his hoarsethroat, answered by the groans and creaks of sympathy from the ladencarriages and the clinking rattle of the coupling-chains, as they drewtaut from the tension, lending a sort of cymbal-like accompaniment tothe noisy chorus. 

Bob and Nellie watched their aunt and the Captain standing on theplatform, waving their handkerchiefs from the window of theircompartment, which they found it a hard matter to shove their headsthrough two at a time, until a bend in the line swept aunt PollysCaptain Dresser, platform and all out of sight. 

Then, sitting down disconsolately in their seats, Bob, who, of course, thought it unmanly to cry, screwed himself up in a corner in default ofthat alleviation of his misery, looking the very picture of woe; whilepoor Nell, being a girl and freed from such Spartan obligations, soughtrefuge from her sorrow in silent tears. 

"Now, Nellie dear, " said her mother reprovingly, "you mustn't be sofoolish! Of course, I can make allowance for your sorrow at leavingSouthsea, where you have been so happy; but these partings, dearie, willcome some time or other, and, besides, you know, both aunt Polly andCaptain Dresser have promised to come up to us at Christmas, so you'llsee them again soon. "

This made poor Nell try to compose herself; and presently she smiledthrough her tears, exchanging reminiscences of the past few weeks oftheir enjoyment by the sea with Bob, who also, after a time, shook offhis grumpiness--the feeling that they were going "home" again, by and byovercoming their depression at leaving, perhaps for ever, the scene ofso many delights and such a terrible ordeal at the last!

"I wonder how old Blinkie will look?" said Bob, trying to picture thejackdaw as he would appear when conscious of his owner's return; andthen, deciding in his own mind that the only tribute of affection whichhe might expect would, most probably, be a sharp peck from Blinkie'sbeak, he added, "I dare say he won't remember me at all!"

Nellie's thoughts were directed to Snuffles the asthmatic cat, her greatpet; and she believed that highly-trained animal would not only know heragain after her long absence, but would certainly express hersatisfaction in a much more endearing manner, if not quite so touchingor pointed!

Thus the two beguiled the tedium of their journey; and, such was theirjoy on the train's arrival in town at last, that no one would havebelieved them to be the same Bob and Nell who had given way so greatlyto their grief on leaving the seaside!

Naturally, Rover's pleasure at being released from his temporaryimprisonment in the guard's van could be easily accounted for; but, theway in which, when he got back to his old home, he walked deliberatelyto the bottom of the garden in perfect remembrance of the spot where hehad buried his last bone before going away, showed that he, at least, did not forget so easily. 

The dog's memory, too, was equally green concerning his old friendsSnuffles and Blinkie, as that of his young master and mistress; for heso sniffed and snuffed Snuffles in his exuberance at seeing her again, that he seriously disarranged her fur, while he allowed the jackdaw topeck at his legs and even his nose, without the slightest attempt atretaliation!

Not long after their getting back, Bob and Nell had a great joke all tothemselves. 

Their father and mother were sending down an invalid chair for MrsCraddock's daughter, one in which she could be taken out into the open-air--it was a thing for which the poor girl had always been longing, asaunt Polly managed to find out for them when they were thinking of whatsort of return they could make for the kind way in which the old lady'sson had rescued Bob, Jim himself refusing any recompense whatever, despite all the barrister's and Captain Dresser's efforts. 

So, this parcel being about to be dispatched "Down the line, " Master Boband Miss Nell bethought them that they would send a present too; notonly to Dick, who was always in their minds, but one also for--whom doyou think?

Why, for Sarah, "the good Sarah!"

And, what do you think the present was, eh?

You would never guess. 

Well, a nice little loaf of bread and an ounce packet of the best blacktea, both packed up in a very pretty box that also contained aremarkably smart cap, with ribbons of a colour such as the soul of Sarahloved. 

Nor was this all, On the lid of the box was an elaborate device in hieroglyphiccharacters, which could be readily understood when properly explained bythe young designers, detailing the leading incidents of a celebratedpicnic in the woods which once occurred; although, possibly theuninitiated might experience some little difficulty at first indiscriminating between what were meant for the figures of the principalpersonages of the story and the objects of still life depicted in thedrawing, though otherwise it was an admirable work of art. 

Regarding the copy of verses also pinned on to the box, which the devicein question was intended to illustrate, there could be no mistake; theverses, indeed, being a replica of an original poem, preserved in theBobo-Nellonian archives and entitled, "Sarah's forget-me-nots, "wherewith the reader has been already made acquainted. 

The parcel was duly dispatched down to Southsea; but, though Nelliesubsequently wrote a nice little letter to the Captain in her own nicehandwriting, large and legible, such as the old sailor could readcomfortably without spectacles, wherein she mentioned all the latestnews of her aquarium tenants, telling how the hermit crab had distrainedfor his rent on a young lobster who had cast-off his shell, and that asmall skate objected to the ice, she could learn nothing of how "thegood Sarah" received her present. 

Nor could Bob gain any information on the subject from aunt Polly, towhom he sent a long epistle bearing on the same momentous theme. 

Both had to wait to have their curiosity satisfied until their auntPolly and Captain Dresser came up to London at Christmastide; when atlength the two of them managed to worm the secret out of the Captain. 

The old sailor had been giving them all the news about those they hadknown down at Southsea; how Dick had at last been accepted for the navyand entered as a second-class boy on board the _Saint Vincent_, beingbound to make a full able-bodied sailor in time; and how Hellyer had gota little pension in addition to his pay, as he was now "chief officer"of the coastguard; after which, the Captain at last referred to Sarah, "the good Sarah!"

"By Jove!" said he, "I shall never forget that night your box came! Iwas playing cribbage with your aunt Polly--and she cheated me, too, bythe same token, in the fuss that occurred on opening the parcel, byscoring `two for his heels, ' when it only should have been `one for hisnob. ' You never saw such a disgraceful thing done in your life, reallya most barefaced piece of cheating!"

"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour. "Sure, I'm listening to all those storiesyou are telling! Won't I pay you out, too, by and by, when you comeround to `the Moorings' again. You just wait and see!"

"I assure you, ma'am, it's a fact, " persisted the Captain unblushingly, his little eyes blinking with fun under his bushy eyebrows, which weregoing up and down at a fine rate, I can tell you. "I saw you move thepegs, ma'am, when you thought I wasn't looking!"

"But, what did Sarah say?" asked Nellie, clinging to the old sailor andtrying to attract his attention to the point at issue, from which heseemed sadly inclined to stray. "What did the good Sarah say?"

"Eh?" said he, cocking his head on one side in his most bird-likefashion and pretending not to understand his questioner. "Eh?"

"Oh, do tell us!" cried Bob, catching hold of him by the other arm. "How did `the good Sarah' look?"

"Why, " chuckled the Captain, bringing down his old malacca cane with athump on the floor. "Jolly, my boy, jolly!"

THE END.