The Little Skipper | Page 7

a good voyage."
"Then we shall, ma'am, and bless and thank you, but there ain't no need for this."
"For all you have done for my children," said Bob's mother.
"For that, ma'am! Why, it's been holidays and holidays to come up here, and bless 'em too.--May I, ma'am?"
"Yes, please do," cried Mrs. Trevor, in a choking voice, and the man caught up Dot.
"Good-bye, my little dymond," he cried huskily.
"Good-bye, 'Jack.' Come and see us again soon," cried Dot, responding to his kiss, and tickling her little pinky nose with "Jack's" whiskers, for it was like kissing some loose cocoa-nut fibre.
"Good-bye, Master Robert," the man continued; and the Skipper shook hands with him, like a man.
"Good-bye, 'Jack': when are you coming again?"
The sailor looked at him with a peculiar expression of countenance, and was silent for a few moments.
"Next time," he said huskily, and, making a rough bow, he caught up a small portmanteau standing ready, and hurried out of the house, while the Skipper's mother bit her lower lip, hard, as she turned away, to hide her swimming eyes.
"What's Mamma crying for?" asked Dot.
"She wasn't crying," said the Skipper gloomily, but, he felt she was ready to do so, and he turned to go into the drawing-room, after opening the door a little way, feeling all the while that his mother's looks were all on account of his behaviour.
Just then the boy stood perfectly still, for there was a burst of pitiable sobs, and he heard his mother say, in answer to some whispered words of the Captain's--"I do try, dear, but it seems so hard, so very hard."
CHAPTER IV.
The next morning at breakfast the Skipper noticed that his mother looked as if she had been crying again, and the sight came like a chill over the boy.
"But she isn't very angry with me," he thought the next moment, for she kissed him eagerly. "It's only because she's sorry. I'm never going to make her unhappy again, though," he thought, as he went on to shake hands with his father.
"Morning, Bob," said the Captain, pressing his boy's hand hard, and then turning to Dot, whom he jumped up so as to kiss her lovingly.
That was a very dull breakfast, for the sad looks of Captain and Mrs. Trevor had their effect upon the young folks, who were glad to escape, at last, to their own room, where they stayed till about ten o'clock, when Mrs. Trevor came suddenly in, looking very pale.
"Come, my darlings," she said; "your poor father wants to see you."
She caught Dot's hand in hers and led her through the door, leaving poor Bob half stunned; for his mother seemed so strange to him, and he could not get the idea out of his head that this was all something to do with yesterday's trouble; but he could not find the words to ask, and so followed into the drawing-room, where Captain Trevor was looking very hard and stern, as he held out his hands to Dot, catching her in his arms and kissing her in a way that startled her.
Then taking out his watch, he glanced at it and thrust it back in his pocket, drawing himself up directly after, and looking harder than ever. His voice sounded strange too, as, without even glancing at his son, he said sharply:
"I have driven it too long. There is not a minute if I am to catch this train. Duty, my own. For pity's sake be firm, or you will unman me."
Bob saw his mother draw herself up, press her lips together, and knit her brows, as she nodded her head at her husband and took Dot, who looked frightened, from his arms.
"That's right," said the Captain sharply; "that's like my wife;" and placing his hands upon her arms, he bent down and kissed her on the forehead, turned and caught the boy's hand, wrung it hard, and strode out of the room.
The next moment they heard his step in the hall, and directly after on the gravel outside. In another moment he was passing the window, to turn and wave his hand, when, as Bob felt heartsick with the feeling of misery which attacked him, Dot, who felt that something dreadful was the matter, hid her face on her mother's shoulder and began to cry bitterly.
This had its good effect upon Mrs. Trevor, who began to kiss and soothe her.
"Hush, hush, my darling," she cried. "You must not cry, but help poor Mamma to try and bear it. You must help me to pray to God to watch over him and bring him back safely to us from that dreadful place."
These words unlocked the Skipper's silent tongue.
"What dreadful place?" he cried excitedly.
"Africa, my boy--the Gold Coast--the White Man's----"
Mrs. Trevor shuddered, and checked herself.
"Gone!" cried the boy again, with the