ory cooking in the
swirl of the smoke that came out of the tall, old-fashioned chimneys,
and this made it a most difficult place to stay away from. In fact, if
any ships had chanced to come into the little harbor, I believe
everybody on board of them, from the captains down to the cabin-boys,
would have scrambled into the boats the moment the anchors were down and
pulled away for the Blue Admiral Inn.

But, so far as ships were concerned, the harbor was as dead as a
door-nail, and poor old Uncle Porticle, who kept the inn, had long ago
given up all idea of expecting them, and had fallen into a melancholy
habit of standing in the little porch that opened on the village street,
gazing first to the right and then to the left, and lastly at the
opposite side of the way, as if he had a faint hope that certain
seafaring men were about to steal a march upon him from the land-side of
the town. And Dorothy, who was a lonely little child, with no one in the
world to care for but Uncle Porticle, had also fallen into a habit of
sitting on the step of the porch by way of keeping him company; and
here they passed many quiet hours together, with the big robin hopping
about in his cage, and with the Admiral himself, on his pedestal beside
the porch, keeping watch and ward over the fortunes of the inn.

[Illustration: THE ADMIRAL.]

Now the Admiral was only a yard high, and was made of wood into the
bargain; but he was a fine figure of a man for all that, being dressed
in a very beautiful blue coat (as befitted his name) and canary-colored
knee-breeches, and wearing a fore-and-aft hat rakishly perched on the
back of his head. On the other hand, he had sundry stray cracks in the
calves of his legs, and was badly battered about the nose; but, after
all, this only gave him a certain weather-beaten appearance as if he had
been around the world any number of times in all sorts of company; and
for as long as Dorothy could remember he had been standing on his
pedestal beside the porch, enjoying the sunshine and defying the rain,
as a gallant officer should, and earnestly gazing at the opposite side
of the street through a spy-glass.

[Illustration: THE HIGHLANDER.]

Now, what the Admiral was staring at was a mystery. He might, for
instance, have been looking at the wooden Highlander that stood at the
door of Mr. Pendle's instrument-shop, for nothing more magnificent than
this particular Highlander could possibly be imagined. His clothes w