dore, and up there we shall be nice and
quiet. Go and play to Daisy: it will put her to sleep and do you both
good. Sit in the porch, so I can keep an eye on you as I promised'; and
with a motherly pat on the shoulder Mrs Jo left Nat to his delightful
task and briskly ascended to the house-top, not up the trellis as of old
but by means of the stairs inside.

Emerging on the platform she found Emil cutting his initials afresh in
the wood-work and singing 'Pull for the Shore', like the tuneful mariner
he was.

'Come aboard and make yourself at home, Aunty,' he said, with a playful
salute. 'I'm just leaving a P.P.C. in the old place, so when you fly up
here for refuge you'll remember me.'

'Ah, my dear, I'm not likely to forget you. It doesn't need E. B. H. cut
on all the trees and railings to remind me of my sailor boy'; and Mrs Jo
took the seat nearest the blue figure astride the balustrade, not quite
sure how to begin the little sermon she wanted to preach.

'Well, you don't pipe your eye and look squally when I sheer off as you
used to, and that's a comfort. I like to leave port in fair weather and
have a jolly send-off all round. Specially this time, for it will be a
year or more before we drop anchor here again,' answered Emil, pushing
his cap back, and glancing about him as if he loved old Plum and would
be sorry never to see it any more.

'You have salt water enough without my adding to it. I'm going to be
quite a Spartan mother, and send my sons to battle with no wailing, only
the command:

"With your shield or on it",' said Mrs Jo cheerfully, adding after a
pause: 'I often wish I could go too, and some day I will, when you are
captain and have a ship of your own--as I've no doubt you will before
long, with Uncle Herman to push you on.'

'When I do I'll christen her the Jolly Jo and take you as first mate.
It would be regular larks to have you aboard, and I'd be a proud man to
carry you round the world you've wanted to see so long and never could,'
answered Emil, caught at once by this splendid vision.

'I'll make my first voyage with you and enjoy myself immensely in spite
of seasickness and all the stormy winds that blow. I've always thought
I'd like to see a wreck, a nice safe one with all saved after great
danger and heroic deeds, while we clung like Mr Pillicoddy to main-top
jibs and lee scuppers.'

'No wrecks yet, ma'am, but we'll try to accommodate customers. Captain
says I'm a lucky dog and brin