Captain Frank Lee was a fine, noble-hearted son of Neptune. Having chosen the sea early in life, he had followed it for many years, rising step by step until he reached his present honorable position. He had become rich, too, as well as his brother, each being benefited by a kind of partnership existing between them; for, while the captain sailed to foreign ports, the merchant supplied the money to freight the vessel, which they owned in equal shares, and to buy goods at a foreign market.
When he had answered some of the numerous questions which were crowded upon him, such as, “How did you come?” “When did you arrive in port?” “Is Louise well?” &c., &c., the captain begged them to reseat themselves at table, adding, “I am as hungry as a bear, and long for some of the home luxuries with which I see your table is spread.”
“Well, Minnie,” he exclaimed, pinching her check, when he had thrice emptied his plate, “I’ll not forget that you were the first one to welcome me; and, by the way, how is Jacko? and how are all the rest of your pets?”
“You had better not name the subject of pets,” cried uncle Harry, laughing, “unless you are willing to be pinned to a chair and tell stories—‘yarns,’ I think you call them—for the next five hours. Now, it’s cats or dogs; then, it’s monkeys or parrots; yesterday, it was horses; and you must rake up your memory for all the stories, true, veritable facts, that you ever heard in your life.”
“I know, I know,” answered the captain, drawing the child toward him, and kissing her as well as his long, thick beard would allow. “Minnie and I are old cronies, and understand each other’s crotchets pretty well. She’s the little puss who threw down a beautiful bracelet I had purchased for her in Paris, and said, ‘Uncle Frank, I don’t care for presents unless they’re alive.’ So, the next voyage, I brought her a live present, in the shape of a grinning monkey, with which she was greatly delighted.”
A roar of laughter from the company followed; but while they were eating the fruit, Minnie found an opportunity to whisper,—
“You can’t think, uncle, what funny things my pony does. He knows how to dance beautifully.”
“I should admire to see him,” returned the captain, glancing roguishly toward his sister-in-law; “and you can’t guess what I’ve brought for you this time.”
“Alive, is it?”
“Yes; alive and squealing when I left the vessel. You’ll see it, or them, to-morrow, and I hope you’ll be as pleased as you were with Jacko.”