“Perhaps, captain, you will come on deck with me and give me the benefit of your advice. My skipper and I know the islands pretty well, but no doubt you know them a good deal better, and I don’t want another mishap.”
But the Seabird avoided all further dangers, and{197} as it became dark the lights of St. Helier’s were in sight, and an hour later the yacht brought up in the port and landed her involuntary passengers.
A fortnight afterwards the Seabird returned to England, and two months later Mrs. Grantham had the satisfaction of being present at the ceremony which was the successful consummation of her little scheme in inviting Minnie Graham to be her companion on board the Seabird.
“Well, my dear,” her husband said, when she indulged in a little natural triumph, “I do not say that it has not turned out well, and I am heartily glad for both Tom and Minnie’s sake it has so; but you must allow that it very nearly had a disastrous ending, and I think if I were you I should leave matters to take their natural course in future. I have accepted Tom’s invitation for the same party to take a cruise in the Seabird next summer, but I have bargained that next time a storm is brewing up we shall stop quietly in port.”
“That’s all very well, James,” Mrs. Grantham said saucily; “but you must remember that Tom Virtue will only be first-mate of the Seabird in future.”
“That I shall be able to tell you better, my dear, after our next cruise. All husbands are not as docile and easily led as I am.”{198}
The Aeroplane Series
By John Luther Langworthy
| 1. | The Aeroplane Boys; or, The Young Pilots First Air Voyage |
| 2. | The Aeroplane Boys on the Wing; or, Aeroplane Chums in the Tropics |
| 3. | The Aeroplane Boys Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in a Wreck |
| 4. | The Aeroplane Boys’ Flights; or, A Hydroplane Round-up |
| 5. | The Aeroplane Boys on a Cattle Ranch |