CHAPTER XXVI.
_The return--The surprise--Buzzby's sayings and doings--The narrative--Fighting battles o'er again--Conclusion._ Once again we are on the end of the quay at Grayton.

As Fred stands there, all that has occurred during the past year seems to him but a vivid dream.
Captain Guy is there, and Captain Ellice, and Buzzby, and Mrs.Buzzby too, and the two little Buzzbys also, and Mrs.Bright, and Isobel, and Tom Singleton, and old Mr.Singleton, and the crew of the wrecked _Dolphin_, and, in short, the "whole world"-- of that part of the country.
It was a great day for Grayton that.

It was a wonderful day--quite an indescribable day; but there were also some things about it that made Captain Ellice feel, somehow, that it was a mysterious day, for, while there were hearty congratulations, and much sobbing for joy, on the part of Mrs.Bright, there were also whisperings which puzzled him a good deal.
"Come with me, brother," said Mrs.Bright, at length, taking him by the arm, "I have to tell you something." Isobel, who was on the watch, joined them, and Fred also went with them towards the cottage.
"Dear brother," said Mrs.Bright, "I--I--O Isobel, tell him.

_I_ cannot." "What means all this mystery ?" said the captain in an earnest tone, for he felt that they had something serious to communicate.
"Dear uncle," said Isobel, "you remember the time when the pirates attacked--" She paused, for her uncle's look frightened her.
"Go on, Isobel," he said quickly.
"Your dear wife, uncle, _was not lost at that time_--" Captain Ellice turned pale.

"What mean you, girl?
How came you to know this ?" Then a thought flashed across him.