in wriggling it out
again. "I thought I was ever so early, and up before any one!"

"Ah, me dear," cried out Mrs Gilmour from below; "you'll have to catch
a weasel asleep, sure, before you can hope, sir, to get ahead of us in
this house. I called Sarah long ere either of you were stirring!"

This was a climax; and so, without making any reply to aunt Polly's
pertinent statement of fact, save a stifled laugh at the expense of Miss
Nell, who had prided herself on having, as she thought, got the start of
them all, Bob expediting his dressing in the most summary fashion,
hurried off as speedily as possible across the common for his matutinal
dip.

He was accompanied, as a matter of course, by Rover, who was ready and
waiting for him on the terrace outside, barking and bounding about like
a demented dog who had parted company with his usual stock of common-
sense.

"Down, Rover!" cried Bob, when the faithful fellow, in the exuberance of
his joy on seeing his young master come out of the house, leaped up and
licked his face, preventing him from closing the door properly as he was
about to do. "Behave yourself, sir!"

Rover, however, thought there were different ways of "behaving himself,"
the chief in his estimation being to show his affection to those who
were kind to him, whom he loved with all the intensity of his great
canine heart; and so, ranking obedience to orders as only second to this
potent law of his life, he frisked and jumped and playfully tousled Bob
until he finally made him start at a swinging trot for the beach, the
frolicsome retriever galloping in advance one moment, the next stopping
in his mad career onward to give out a loud bark and wag his tail in
encouragement to his master to try and catch him up, if he could!

Bob bent his steps towards the coastguard-station on the eastern side of
the sea-wall, near the new pier, which was the regular meeting-place for
him and Dick every morning for their bathe; and here, punctually at "six
Bells," or seven o'clock, he found on the present occasion his fellow-
swimmer along with the Captain.

The latter, he could hear as he approached, was having an animated
discussion with Hellyer, the chief boatman, on the subject of torpedoes,
which Hellyer believed in, but which the Captain utterly pooh-poohed,
saying that in his opinion they were of little, if any, use in naval
warfare.

He was laying down the law with great unction when Bob came up to them.

"D