now fast friend, Luke Trevor, who sat beside
him, echoed the "hear! hear!" with such enthusiasm that all the others
burst into a laugh, and ended in a hearty cheer.

"Now, fill up--fill up, lads," continued the captain. "Let it be a
bumper, whatever tipple you may choose. If our drink is better than it
used to be, our cups ought not to be less full--and my toast is worthy
of all honour. I drink to the success and prosperity, temporal and
spiritual, of the North Sea Trawlers,"--there was a symptom of a
gathering cheer at this point, but the captain checked it with a raised
finger, "especially to that particular fleet which goes by the name of
the `_Short Blue_!'"

The pent-up storm burst forth now with unrestrained vehemence, insomuch
that three little ragged boys who had climbed on the low garden wall to
watch proceedings, fell off backwards as if shot by the mere sound!

Observing this, and being near them, Mrs Bright rose, quietly leaned
over the wall, and emptied a basket of strawberries on their heads by
way of consolation.

We cannot afford space for the captain's speech in full. Suffice it to
say that he renewed his former promise to re-visit the fleet and spend
some time among the fishermen as often as he could manage to do so, and
wound up by coupling the name of Joe Davidson, skipper of the _Evening
Star_, with the toast.

Whereupon, up started Joe with flashing eyes; (intense enthusiasm
overcoming sailor-like modesty;) and delivered a speech in which words
seemed to tumble out of him anyhow and everyhow--longwise, shortwise,
askew, and upside-down--without much reference to grammar, but with a
powerful tendency in the direction of common sense. We have not space
for this speech either, but we give the concluding words:

"I tell 'ee wot it is, boys. Cap'n Bream has drunk prosperity to the
_Short Blue_, an' so have we, for we love it, but there's another _Short
Blue_--"

A perfect storm of cheering broke forth at this point and drowned Joe
altogether. It would probably have blown over the three ragged boys a
second time, but they were getting used to such fire, and, besides, were
engaged with strawberries.

"There's another _Short Blue_," resumed Joe, when the squall was over,
"which my missis an' me was talkin' about this very day, when our
blessed babby fell slap out o' bed an' set up such a howl--"

Joe could get no further, because of the terrific peals of laughter
which his words, coupled