Never mind, good Ugly! I believe you were fully rewarded for weeks of bewilderment when the time did come for knocking over bunnies.
One afternoon, in returning from one of those rambles, we met our salt tute hurrying towards us in a great state of haste and perspiration. When near enough for his hoarse bass voice to reach us, he hailed—
“Well, there you are, boys, at last! I have been hunting for you all over the cape for the last hour. Ah! Ugly, boy, are you glad to see the old Captain trudging over the rabbit-ground? Eh? shaggy boy! And you have been running the bunnies till you are blown, and your masters would not shoot—eh? Well, no matter; the Captain shall bring his marline-spike along some day, and help you bag them. But, my affectionate pup, do you take a turn in that tail, or you’ll wag it off some windy day.”
So Ugly sat down—a long, red, wet tongue hanging from the side of his mouth—and whipped the grass between the Captain’s boots with that restless tail until we came up.
“Why, Captain Mugford,” said Walter, “I did not know you ever wanted us.”
“No? Well, I do though, just now. You see, boys, as to-morrow will be Saturday, with every prospect of fair weather and a good breeze, I thought we might go on a cruise—start early, get our meals on board, run off to the fishing-grounds, and make a voyage of general exploration. And to do this we must get our traps aboard this evening, and see that everything is in order on board the Youth.”
“Good! nothing could suit us better, Captain. I’ll run to the house with the guns,” said Harry, “and we can all go at once off to the Youth.”
“Mr Clare,” continued Captain Mugford, “can’t go with us, he says, but must walk over to Q—town and spend the day. That’s a pity, for I calculated on having a capital time all together, on a voyage like this one we propose.”
“Well, we boys,” said Walter, “will ask him this evening to put off his visit. Perhaps he may change his mind.”
When Harry returned we went down to our cutter, all in great spirits on account of the fun proposed for the next day.