wanted to make a sea voyage, and now I have the chance. This is the
best ever! Hurrah! That's the stuff! 'A life on, the ocean wave,
a home on the bounding deep!' Avast and belay, my hearties! Shiver
my timbers! All hands on deck to take in sail! There she blows!"

Bob had not read sea stories for nothing.

"That's the way to talk!" exclaimed the captain. "I knew he'd like
the idea!"

Mr. Henderson seemed somewhat amazed. He had expected Bob to make
strong objections. Instead the boy was delighted.

"I am sorry to see you leave home, Bob," said his mother, with just
the hint of tears in her eyes, "but I think it will be the best
thing for you."

"So do I, mom. Hurrah! This is the best ever!"

Then Bob began to dance a sailor's hornpipe.

"It seems to me," said Mr. Henderson to himself, as he started for
the mill, "that Bob's punishment is more of a pleasure than anything
else. Still, if it does him good, I'll not regret it."

CHAPTER VIII

GETTING READY

Captain Spark's ship, the _Eagle_, was a large craft, and in her he
had made many voyages. At present the vessel was docked at a
seaport town not many miles from Moreville.

The day it was announced to Bob that he was to make a sea voyage,
the captain left the village to visit the _Eagle_ at the dock and
see how the loading of the cargo was progressing.

"I want to sail as soon as possible," he said, "and though I left a
good mate in charge, still I like to look after certain matters
myself. I'll be back in a few days and let you know, Bob, the exact
date for sailing. In the meanwhile you can be getting ready."

"Aye, aye, sir," answered the boy, trying, as he had read of sailors
doing, to pull a lock of his reddish hair, but finding it too short.
He had decided to adopt all the sea practices he had ever read about.

"Get your bag ready," went on the captain, "have your mother put
some needles and thread in, for you'll have to mend your own clothes
at sea, and I'll look it over when I get back."

"Aye, aye, sir."

The captain laughed at Bob's sudden enthusiasm for the sea and ship
terms, but he was not displeased.

As for Bob, he thought the time would never pass until he would find
himself aboard the _Eagle_. That very day he began to sort over his
clothes, trying to decide which he should take, and he had such a
miscellaneous collection of garments that, when his mother saw them,
she laughed.

"Bob!" she exclaimed. "It