The Captain was there in his old shooting suit, with a gun over his shoulder, and "Blucher" was careering all over the flower beds, and not stopping when he was told to. "Umph! I'll shoot that dog if he don't come to heel when I tell him," the Captain grunted, and I ran off and managed to catch him. I knew jolly well that old "Blucher" might have destroyed every flower in the place if he wanted to, for anything the Captain would have done to him.
"What became of you, Dick, last night? The missus waited for you and your mother till we couldn't wait any longer. Umph! Must go down and see her and the Parson after lunch."
I very much hoped that he wouldn't, because I was afraid my father would say something to him about sending me away in charge of that junk. I told him about Ned the Poacher and his wife.
"Umph! Serve the beggar right; we'll see what we can do about his missus and the kids. Umph! Go in and see the girls, and then come along with 'Blucher'. I'm going after rabbits."
I'd brought a Chinese embroidered skirt for Nan, and she simply loved it, and I couldn't get away, and didn't want to, and presently the Captain began bellowing "that he couldn't wait till Domesday", and Nan said, "I'll come too", and we raced each other round to the stables to get "Blucher's" chain, and off we went.
It was awfully ripping, and "Blucher" gave us no end of a time, pulling us about whenever the Captain fired his gun.
* * * * * * * *
[Transcriber’s note: the source book had running headings on its odd-numbered pages. In this etext, those headings have been combined into an introductory paragraph at the start of each chapter.]
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FORD OF H.M.S. VIGILANT ***