"I am more than willing, laddie," returned the old gentleman pleasantly, "for fun is oft-times beneficial, particularly to little chaps such as you."

"I am bigger than I used to be," said Ned, "but I like fun quite as well as I ever did."

"Very strange," said Lucilla, "very strange that a grave old man such as you should care for fun."

"Yes, but my sister Lu likes it, and she's older--a great deal older than I am," returned the little fellow, looking up into her face with eyes that sparkled with fun.

At that she laughed and gave him a kiss.

"Yes, I am a great deal older than you, and so you ought to treat me with great respect," she said.

"Ought I, papa?" he asked, turning to their father.

"It would be quite well to do so, if you want the reputation of being a little gentleman," replied the captain, regarding his little son with a smile of amus.e.m.e.nt.

But at that instant there came a sound as of a shrill whistle overhead, followed by a shout in stentorian tones: "h.e.l.lo! look out there! Ship ahoy! Do you mean to run into us? If we get foul of each other somebody may be sent to Davy Jones' locker."

Everybody started, and the captain rose to his feet, a look of anxiety coming over his face.

But Cousin Ronald gave him a roguish look.

"I wouldn't mind it, captain," he said. "It's only a false alarm. I doubt if there is any vessel near us."

The captain reseated himself, while Grace exclaimed with a sigh of relief, "Oh, I am so glad it was but a false alarm! A collision would be so dreadful, either to us or to the people on the other vessel, and maybe to both."

"Oh, it was just you, was it, Cousin Ronald?" laughed Ned. "Please do some more."

At that instant there was a loud squeak, as of a mouse that seemed to be on his own shoulder, and he started to his feet with a loud scream: "Oh, take it off, papa! Quick, quick!"

Everybody laughed; and Lucilla said teasingly, "I'm afraid you are not fit to be a soldier yet, Neddie boy."

"Maybe I will be by the time I'm tall enough," he returned rather shamefacedly.

"Yes, son, I believe you will," said his father. "I don't expect a son of mine to grow up to be a coward."

"I might have known it was Cousin Ronald, and not a real mouse, on my shoulder," remarked the little fellow with a mortified air; "but I didn't think just the first minute."

"Cousin Ronald on your shoulder?" laughed Lucilla. "I don't think he could stand there; and his weight would be quite crushing to you."

"Of course it would. He couldn't stand there at all," laughed Ned.

"No," said Mr. Lilburn, "it would be much more sensible for me to take you on my shoulder."

"Papa takes me on his sometimes," said Ned, "but not so often now as he used to when I was a little boy."

"Ha, ha, ha! what are you now, sonny?" asked a voice that seemed to come from a distance.

Ned colored up. "I'm a good deal bigger now than I was once," he said.

"And hoping to grow a good deal bigger yet," added his father, smiling down into the little flushed, excited face.

"Yes, papa, I hope to be as big as brother Max, or you, some of these days," returned the child.

"Don't be in a hurry about growing up," said the voice that had spoken a moment before.

"Grown folk have troubles and trials the little ones know nothing about."

"But the grown-ups may hope to do more in the world than the little ones," said Walter.

"Is that why you are growing up, Uncle Walter?" asked Ned.

"That's why I am glad to grow up," replied Walter.

"Like papa?"

"Yes; and like grandpa and other good men."

"Well, I want to be a man just like my own dear papa," said the little fellow, looking with loving admiration up into his father's face.

"That's right, bit laddie, follow closely in his footsteps," said the voice, that seemed to come from that distant corner.

But now came the call to the supper table, and so ended the sport for that day.

CHAPTER XIV.

It was still raining heavily when the Sabbath morning dawned upon Lake Erie and Put-in Bay. But the faces that gathered about the breakfast table of the _Dolphin_ were bright and cheery. Everybody was well and in good spirits.

"This is a long storm, but I think will be over by to-morrow,"

remarked the captain as he filled the plates.

"The time has not seemed long to me," said Annis, "for even though deprived of the pleasure of being on deck we have been by no means a dull party."

"No, not by any means, and Mr. Lilburn has made a great deal of fun for us," said Evelyn.

"And feels well repaid by the evident enjoyment of the little company," he said, glancing around upon them with a pleasant smile.

"But of course that kind of sport won't do for to-day," said Walter; "and I presume it is too stormy for anybody to go ash.o.r.e to attend church." With the concluding words he turned toward the captain inquiringly.

"Quite so," was the reply. "We will have to content ourselves with such a service as can be conducted on board."

"Which will probably be quite as good and acceptable as many a one conducted on land," said Mr. Lilburn. "I have greatly enjoyed the few I have been privileged to attend on this vessel in the past."

"And I," said Grandma Elsie; "we are as near the Master here as anywhere else; and when we cannot reach a church, we can rejoice in that thought--in the remembrance that he is just as near us here as anywhere else."

"We will have a sermon, prayers, and hymns this morning, and a Bible cla.s.s this afternoon, won't we, papa?" asked Grace.