llie towards him and giving her a kiss, much to her astonishment, the
action was so sudden; while he next proceeded to shake Bob by the hand
until his arm ached. "I am very glad, very glad indeed to meet you;
and, if it be any satisfaction to know, I may tell you that I go round
to your aunt Polly's every evening to have a game of cribbage, summer
and winter alike, except those three weeks when she goes to London to
stop with your father, whose name, of course, I recollect now, although
I did not think of that when you told it me awhile ago--"

"Then, you're Captain Dresser?" interrupted Bob at this point, anxious
to show that he had heard the old gentleman's name before and recognised
it. "I'm sure you're Captain Dresser, sir."

"Yes, I'm Captain Dresser," replied that individual, smiling all over
his face, his queer little beady black eyes twinkling more than ever
with excitement, and his bushy eyebrows moving up and down. "Yes, I'm
Captain Dresser--Jack Dresser, as your uncle and all my old shipmates in
the service used to call me, much at _your_ service, ha, ha, ha!"

Bob and Nellie could not help joining in with the old gentleman's laugh
at his little joke, the Captain's "Ha, ha, ha!" was so cheery and
catching.

It was a regular jolly "Ha, ha, ha!"

The trio, thereupon, got very confidential together, Bob telling how
they had got their dog Rover with them, only he was travelling in the
guard's van, being too big to be put in the box under the carriage, as
he would have been if he'd been a little dog instead of a fine big black
retriever, which he, Bob, was very glad to say he was, and "not a mere
lady's pet like a pug or a toy terrier," while Nellie, in her turn,
intimated her intention of making a collection of shells and seaweed
when she got to the shore, which, she said, she longed to reach so as to
`see the sea,' that being the dearest wish of her heart.

The Captain, on his part, reciprocated these friendly advances in the
heartiest way, expressing the strongest desire to make the acquaintance
of Rover, as well as to take his fellow-travellers out in his yacht for
a sail whenever the weather was fine enough; that is, if they promised
to behave themselves properly, and always `did what they were told and
obeyed orders,' Captain Dresser saying, with an expressive wink that
made him look more jackdaw-like than ever, that he invariably insisted,
even in the presence of their "dear aunt Polly," on being "c