"Yes," he said, returning the smile, "and it is a comfort. We'd any of us feel it an honour to be useful to our country."
"I'd like to be," remarked Gracie, "if little girls could do anything."
"Little girls are sometimes a very great blessing and comfort to their fathers," the Captain said, smiling down into her eyes while he laid his right hand tenderly on her pretty head, with its sunny curls streaming in the wind.
In the mean while the firing of the salute had gone on, the Admiral and his staff had reached the deck of the "Wanita," the marines presenting arms, and—
"There, what is he going to do now, Papa?" queried Lulu,—"the Admiral, I mean."
"Inspect the ship," replied her father.
"What for, Papa?" asked Grace.
"To see that every part of it is in perfect order."
"I'm sure he will find it so," said Lulu; "for when we were there and were taken all over it, every part was as clean and neat as any lady's parlour."
Captain Raymond now turned away and began talking with Mr. Keith on some subject that did not interest the children, but they continued a close watch of the "Wanita."