Just then the Commodore himself appeared, and he bore the fateful cup. Blushing, and with downcast lashes, Nancy listened to the presentation speech. She couldn’t quite catch it all, but there was one expression that lingered. He called her a daughter of the old Pine Tree State, who had borne off a trophy that should remind her not only of a deserved victory but also of the friendship and fellowship of the sister club, the Orienta Juniors.
“Neatly put,” said the old Admiral, as they journeyed back home, and for the first time he was a guest on the Tidy Jane. “Nancy, you’re a conquering heroine, my dear, like your namesake, Nancy Lee, and the Captain, and Polly and I are proud of you.”
When they reached Lost Island, the Doctor detained Polly a moment at the landing, while the others went on to the house. “I have a trophy for the second in the race, one that is given jointly by Father Neptune and myself,” he said, as he reached his hand into his pocket mysteriously, then held it out to Polly. On the open palm lay one of the pearls from Ceylon.
“Just in memory of many happy days and many jars of marmalade,” he smiled, as Polly took it, speechless and radiant. “And I want to tell you a secret. You accused me, Miss Polly, of using marmalade as bait. But I never did anything of the kind. Don’t laugh, now. What I did do was to eat it and imbibe courage and peace and a settled happiness from the atmosphere of Lost Island, so that I have triumphed. I am going back to Washington this week myself. I have found the polypi!”
Two days remained to the girls, but they were so taken up in packing, and preparing Aunty Welcome for the trip back South, that they passed swiftly. Saturday morning the carry-all bore them over to Eastport, but it had to make two trips, and each time it stopped at Fair Havens, where Mrs. Carey and Nancy said goodbye to the girls, and the Captain waved them a salute.
“It has been the best summer I ever had,” Nancy cried, as she shook hands with them all, and kissed the girls and Aunty too. “You’ve been so good to me, and given me such a happy time, that I just can’t thank you.”
“We’ve got the Junior Cup up on the parlor mantel,” added Tom proudly, “right under mother’s framed marriage certificate, and father’s model of his first schooner. And Nancy sticks a bouquet of fresh posies in it every morning, girls.”
Nancy blushed radiantly, and kissed Polly a second time.
“Sometimes I wonder if you let me win,” she whispered. “You held up a little I thought, there at the very last.”
“Did I?” laughed Polly. “It was because I was so glad and surprised when I saw the old Pirate nosing her way past me, that was all. Goodbye, dear. Don’t forget us.”