Oh dear! I could nearly cry for joy to think of it!" "And me too!" said Pansy.
"And me too!" Veevee seemed to say, as he gave a short bark, and, jumping down from the seat, ran round the garden, looking like a fluffy white ball.
The sea was very blue, only patched with green wherever a cloud-shadow fell on it.

Down beneath the cliff on which the cottage stood, the waves broke lazily in long white lines of foam.

On the sea itself were vessels of almost every kind, from the little fishing craft with brown sails to great ships sailing away to distant lands.
Aralia knew what class of vessel each was by its rig; her best of uncles had taught her.

And well could she use the spy-glass too, which she now held to her right eye.

It had been hard at first to keep the left closed, but she could manage it now quite easily without asking Pansy to clap a hand over it.
Soon she began to talk in little gasps: "Oh, Pansy--I think--Oh, I'm nearly sure--yes--yes--it must be! it _is_ Uncle's ship! I can see the flags all a-flying--Hurrah! Come and look!" [Illustration] Pansy sat on her sister's knee and peeped through the glass.