“I am glad to see you back, my lad,” cried the old captain, grasping his hand; “you’ve made a quick voyage, and a prosperous one, I hope?”
“As prosperous as I could desire,” answered Owen. “We have had two or three narrow escapes from the enemy’s cruisers, but the Ouzel Galley is in good trim, and never sailed better. I heard in Waterford that I am to proceed to Dublin,” he continued; “so I paid my mother a visit, and she bade me hurry on here. I can remain but a short time, for I must be on board again early to-morrow.”
“We’ll make the most of you, then, my lad,” said Captain Tracy, “and Norah looks as if she intended to do so.”
She was the first to tell Owen of the intention of Mr Ferris to go out in the Ouzel Galley to Jamaica, and that Ellen had made up her mind to accompany him. “She has asked me to pay her a visit before she goes,” she added, “and I should much like to do so could I leave my father, but that I cannot do.”
“Nor shall you, my girl, for I will go with you,” said the captain, who had overheard her remark. “We’ll go in the Ouzel Galley—to my mind there’s less danger at sea than from those land pirates, the highwaymen—and if you can pack up your traps in time, we’ll go aboard to-morrow morning. What say you, Owen? Will you take us as passengers?”
Owen expressed his pleasure at the proposal, and Norah had no doubt that she could pack up in time. Owen put aside all fears of capture by the enemy; indeed, the Channel was so well guarded by British ships of war that there was little danger, he thought, on that score. He had too much confidence in his own seamanship to think of shipwreck. After all arrangements had been made, he went back to spend the rest of the evening with his mother, while Norah and the captain, with Biddy’s help, prepared for their departure.