"Off with you, boy! Not a penny. You are welcome to that trip, I am sure. It turned out better than any of us expected, didn't it? I shall always like to think it over."
"But, captain--" began Ralph.
"No 'but' about it. The vessel is mine, every timber of it, and if I've a mind to take passengers, it's nobody's business. So off with you. Keep your promises. Be good boys, and that's all I'll ask. God bless you. Good-bye."
Ralph and Ben returned to the shore, and stood with the crowd waving and cheering as the Una, with all sails set, glided away.
As long as they could see the two men, they stood on the rocks and waved hats and handkerchiefs; and Marcus gave a return salute by flourishing his dish-towel and blowing his fog-horn--the same horn that had sounded so dismally in the fog when Ralph and Ben were at sea.
"There goes a man worth knowing!" exclaimed Ralph. "He is rough enough outside, but he is pure gold through and through. Where would we have been if we hadn't fallen into his hands?"
Ben shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Not here, surely."
"Indeed we wouldn't; and when school begins in September we wouldn't have been there either."
"We didn't cheer him half loud enough," cried Joe Chester in a fresh spasm of gratitude. "I wonder if they could hear if we all gave one tremendous yell. Let's try it. All together now. One, two, three." Then followed a shout that succeeded in bringing the two men to the vessel's side for one more salute.
"There, that will do for this time, boys; I think they know that you appreciate their kindness," said Mr. Bernard, laughingly uncovering his ears, after protecting them from the roar of the crowd. Leaving them on the beach planning the day's pleasure, he returned to the tent to read and rest.