f his own, so I will only say GOD bless you! my darling boy, and bring
you safe home to your poor mother.

"P.S.--If you love me come as quick as you can. You shall go off again."

This was Charlie's letter:

"MY DEAR JACK--I was so glad to get your letter. I knew you had gone off
at last. It did not surprise me, for I was sure you would go some day. I
believe I have a very mean spirit, for I felt rather hurt at first that
you did not tell me; but Mr. Wood gave me a good scolding, and said I
was not fit to have a friend if I could not trust him out of sight or
out of hearing. And that's quite true. Besides, I think I knew more
about it after Jem had been down. He has been so jolly to me since you
left. It must be a splendid life on board ship, and I am glad you have
been in the rigging, and didn't fall off. I wish you had seen an iceberg
or a water-spout, but perhaps you will. For two days and two nights I
was very miserable, and then Jenny rode down on Shag, and brought me a
book that did me a great deal of good, and I'll tell you why. It's about
a man whose friend is going to travel round the world, like you, and he
has to be left behind, like me. Well, what does he do but make up his
mind to travel round his own garden, and write a history of his
adventures, just as if he had been abroad. And that's the book; and you
can't tell what a jolly one it is. I mean to do the same, only as you
are at sea I shall call it a Log, 'Log of a Voyage round the Garden, the
Croft, and the Orchard, by the Friend he left behind him.' That's good,
isn't it? I've been rather bothered about whether I should have separate
books for each, or mix them all up; and then, besides, I've got to
consider how to manage about the different times of year, for you know,
of course, the plants and the beasts and everything are different at
different times; but if I have a log of each place for each month, it
would not be done by the time you come home. I think perhaps I shall
have note-books for the four seasons, and that'll take a good while. Two
of the best chapters in Jenny's book are called 'on my face' and 'on my
back,' and they are about what he sees lying on his face and then on his
back. I'm going to do the same, and put down everything, just as it
comes; beetles, chrysalises, flowers, funguses, mosses, earth-nuts, and
land-snails, all just as I find them. If one began with different
note-books for the creatures, and the plants, and the shell