In a day or two she would sail for a voyage the length of which would depend upon her success; a voyage which would for a long period keep all on board of her out of the mischief which so easily happens ashore.

If only Jack---- He started and stared more intently than before.

He was not an imaginative man, but he had in his mind's eye a sudden vision of his only son waving farewells from the deck of the whaler as she emerged from the harbour into the open sea, while Amelia Kybird tore her yellow locks ashore.

It was a vision to cheer any self-respecting father's heart, and he brought his mind back with some regret to the reality of the anchored ship.
He walked home slowly.

At the Kybirds' door the proprietor, smoking a short clay pipe, eyed him with furtive glee as he passed.