And off went the Captain, too, hurrying up to the top of the hill behind
the cottage, as if the cosey little thing was all afire, and the dear
old soul was running up for help; and when he reached the top of the
hill, he began swinging round his old tarpaulin hat, making the long
blue ribbons fairly whistle and speak, as if they would say, "Old man,
old man, stop a bit, and take breath!--can't you now? and say, what's
this all about, for goodness' sake!"

[Illustration: The Ancient Mariner becomes excited, and Main Brace makes
an effort.]

But the old man knew well enough himself what it was all about; for he
was signalling his little friends; and every circle of his big arm, and
every shake of his long gray beard, and every swing of his old tarpaulin
hat, seemed to sing out, "Hurrah, hurrah, for a jolly day! hurrah,
hurrah, my children gay! hurrah, hurrah, let's up and away, upon the
bright blue waters!"

By and by the children caught sight of the old tarpaulin hat and the
blue ribbons and the Captain himself, all in this state of violent
excitement; and down they bore at once upon the ancient mariner, as if
he were a regular bluff-bowed old East Indiaman, full of golden ingots,
and they were clipper-built, copper-fastened, rakish fore-and-afters of
the piratical pattern.

"Heyday!" (the old man never thought he had begun until he had thrown
off a heyday or so), "heyday, my hearties!" said the ancient mariner, as
the children came up to him,--"heyday, my dears! keep on that same
course before the wind, and you'll fetch up in the right port"; and so,
without further ado, he hurried "my hearties" down to the beach, and
aboard the yacht; and then very soon Main Brace (whose mouth had never
left off expanding at the prospect of "a fishin'" and "a sailin'" and "a
jolly day" generally) had the anchor away; and then the Captain spread
the white sails to the lively breeze; and there never was, since the
world began, a merrier little party, in a merrier little craft, afloat
upon blue water on a merrier day. Indeed, the day was so merry, and the
craft was so merry, and the waves were so merry as they came leaping
round the yacht, and the wind was so merry as it bulged out the sail and
went whistling through the rigging, and the little party in the yacht
were so merry, and everything and everybody was so merry, that it would
be strange indeed if the fish were not merry too; and the finny
creatures played round the pretty ho