re then, Captain Dresser?"

"Well, ma'am," began the Captain; but Mrs Gilmour, who at that moment
first caught sight of Nellie's face, interrupted him before he could get
in a word further than, "you see--"

"Oh, my dearie!" cried she, in a higher key, forgetting at once all her
own troubles; and, rushing up to Nell with the utmost solicitude, she
hugged her first and then inspected her carefully, "what have you done
to your poor dear face?"

"Oh, it's not much, auntie," said Nellie, just then busy arranging her
dress. "I have only got a scratch or two."

"And your clothes too," continued Mrs Gilmour, her consternation
increasing at the sight of the damage done. "Why, your frock is torn to
shreds!"

"Not so bad as that, auntie," laughed the girl, but with a look of
dismay on her face the while. "It is rather bad though."

"Bad," repeated her aunt, "sure, it's scandalous! And, say your
brother, now--whatever have you both been about? His poor face is all
bleeding, too!"

"Now, don't you make matters worse than they are," interposed the
Captain. "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," he
added, "run and fetch some for us, like a good lad."

Nell had brought with her from home a little tin bucket, which she
usually took down to the shore for collecting sea-anemones and other
specimens for her aquarium; so, catching hold of this, Dick started off
in the direction of the tiny brook they had crossed some little time
before, returning anon with the bucket brimming full.

Miss Nell and Bob thereupon set to work in high glee at their extempore
ablutions; and, when they had subsequently dried their faces in their
pocket-handkerchiefs, both presented a much improved appearance.

With the exception of a few scratches, they bore little traces of the
fray, the blood-stains, which looked at first sight so very dreadful,
having vanished on the application of the cold water, as the Captain had
prophesied.

"There, ma'am," cried he now exultingly; pointing this out to Mrs
Gilmour, "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 a
sailor some