"So do I see his old black face," said the captain, standing up. He waved his hat, when a cheer arose from the fleet of boats astern. Like bees they swarmed aboard the schooner, completely covering her deck, while Peterson embraced his two boys, and clasped the hands of his neighbors.
"They've got him, Luce; there goes the flag," cried Will Griffin; "I can see it plain with the glass; they are stringing out the boats."
After a while,—
"Here she comes! Beeswax, don't she come!"
And well she might, with fifty of the strongest men in the town towing her, three to each of her own sweeps, and Lion Ben to lead.
A shout arose from the crowd that made the shores ring as the sweeps were shipped aboard the schooner, and Peterson, walking out on the bowsprit, waved his hand to his friends.
Tears of joyous sympathy moistened many a cheek when Luce flung herself into her husband's arms, while the little ones clasped his legs.
Walter and Ned have now become accustomed to hardship, had experience of danger, and incurred responsibility. The next volume of the series, the Cruise of the Casco, will exhibit their capabilities when thrown more entirely upon their own resources, and placed in trust of a large interest under circumstances of deadly peril.