“It was like the crash of a hundred great breakers at once on a rocky beach; and he slipped and splashed down the streaming rock, into the sea at the foot of it, while the Jane Ellen and the Reindeer passed safely out, to the singing of the Star Brothers:—
“Follow, follow safely,
To the open sea!
“Then the two flames were gone from the topsail yards, and the ships dropped anchor to wait for morning.
“But don’t you think the Star People were interested when Castor and Pollux came back to their House in the Zodiac?
“They were all waiting for them, and they listened, quiet as mice, while Pollux told them (with Castor correcting him when he didn’t tell it straight) how they had saved the ships and escaped from Torquillon; and what a smash and tumble he had had at the end.
“‘And that’s the end of him’, said Cassiopeia.
“‘Bless you, no, it isn’t!’ said Castor. ‘He doesn’t mind a spill like that. Of course it shakes him up, but he’ll come up like a jack-in-the-box.’
“‘Uglier than ever,’ remarked Orion.
“‘Then he ought to be ashamed of himself,’ said Cassiopeia.