At this the Captain chuckled still more; and he then told Dick, whom every one was as glad almost to see amongst them again as they were to see Bob, that he intended, when he got strong enough, to send him into the navy so as to prevent him from going to sea again!
After a few days’ rest, in order to recuperate from the effects of the strain on all their nerves, Bob’s father said they must all go back to town, their holiday limit being at length reached.
Bob and Nellie, on this intimation, began a round of leave-taking which would well-nigh have consumed another long holiday, to have been carried out in accordance with their intention; for they wanted to say “good-bye!” to all their favourite haunts and many acquaintances of the animate and inanimate world in turn.
Yes, they must see once more the halcyon spot where they caught the Pandalus, that gem of their aquarium; they had to bid adieu to Mrs Craddock’s cottage, and the old lady herself and daughter; and again inspect the place where the unfortunate Bembridge Belle was wrecked.
They had to give a handshake, too, to their friend Hellyer—and all his fellow-coastguardsmen; besides having to go over the Captain’s yacht, which had been sparred and rigged anew, the little Zephyr looking now “as fresh as paint again” after her eventful vicissitudes adrift in the Channel.
Aye, they paid farewell visits to every one and everything, and then wanted to begin over again, it was so hard to part with them all!
At last, however, the ordeal was accomplished; and all their goods and chattels and new acquisitions, especially the aquarium and its various occupants, that terrible Mesembryanthemum included, being properly packed up and labelled, behold the party one fine morning at the railway-station on their way to London as soon as the train should start!
Here Rover, despite his frantic howls on escaping his former prison, was snugly incarcerated in the guard’s van; when the others, after exchanging last words with Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, entered a saloon-carriage which had been reserved for them for the journey, Bob and Nell, it may be taken for granted, being the last to get in, loth to leave “aunt Polly” and “that dear old sailor” who had won their hearts, as well as say “good-bye” to Dick, the whilom uninvited guest of their first eventful journey “Down the line,” and subsequent faithful companion of Bob in his wonderful adventures by sea and land.