"I'm bound for 'round Cape Horn this trip. Oh, you'll get all the ocean you want, but it will make a man of you."
"When are you going to sail?" asked Bob in a quiet voice.
"Next week."
"Good!" exclaimed the youth suddenly. "I'll be ready. Oh, I always 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.