“I wonder how old Blinkie will look?” said Bob, trying to picture the jackdaw as he would appear when conscious of his owner’s return; and then, deciding in his own mind that the only tribute of affection which he might expect would, most probably, be a sharp peck from Blinkie’s beak, he added, “I dare say he won’t remember me at all!”
Nellie’s thoughts were directed to Snuffles the asthmatic cat, her great pet; and she believed that highly-trained animal would not only know her again after her long absence, but would certainly express her satisfaction in a much more endearing manner, if not quite so touching or pointed!
Thus the two beguiled the tedium of their journey; and, such was their joy on the train’s arrival in town at last, that no one would have believed them to be the same Bob and Nell who had given way so greatly to their grief on leaving the seaside!
Naturally, Rover’s pleasure at being released from his temporary imprisonment in the guard’s van could be easily accounted for; but, the way in which, when he got back to his old home, he walked deliberately to the bottom of the garden in perfect remembrance of the spot where he had buried his last bone before going away, showed that he, at least, did not forget so easily.
The dog’s memory, too, was equally green concerning his old friends Snuffles and Blinkie, as that of his young master and mistress; for he so sniffed and snuffed Snuffles in his exuberance at seeing her again, that he seriously disarranged her fur, while he allowed the jackdaw to peck at his legs and even his nose, without the slightest attempt at retaliation!
Not long after their getting back, Bob and Nell had a great joke all to themselves.
Their father and mother were sending down an invalid chair for Mrs Craddock’s daughter, one in which she could be taken out into the open-air—it was a thing for which the poor girl had always been longing, as aunt Polly managed to find out for them when they were thinking of what sort of return they could make for the kind way in which the old lady’s son had rescued Bob, Jim himself refusing any recompense whatever, despite all the barrister’s and Captain Dresser’s efforts.
So, this parcel being about to be dispatched “Down the line,” Master Bob and Miss Nell bethought them that they would send a present too; not only to Dick, who was always in their minds, but one also for—whom do you think?
Why, for Sarah, “the good Sarah!”
And, what do you think the present was, eh?