A momentary silence following upon Mr. Lilburn’s remark was broken by a question from Grace. “We are away out in the bay now, aren’t we, papa?” she asked.

“Yes, daughter, and must turn presently, for Max’s leave of absence will be over by the time I can take him back to the Academy.”

“But I may hope to be with you all again to-morrow and the next day, when the graduating exercises are over, may I not, papa?” asked Max.

“I think so; provided you keep out of scrapes,” his father replied, laying a hand affectionately on the lad’s shoulder as he spoke, for Max was now close to his side. “And one evening or the other—both if you like—you may bring some of your mates with you, and perhaps Cousin Ronald and you yourself may be able to entertain them with some exertion of your ventriloquial powers.”

“Oh, thank you, papa,” said Max delightedly; “nothing could be better. Cousin Ronald will, I dare say, make great sport for them, and perhaps I could do a little myself. But whom shall I invite? I am very sure any of them would be delighted to come.”

“I leave the selection to you, my son,” replied the captain. “Choose any whom you think the right sort of company for yourself and us and likely to enjoy being here.”

“Thank you, sir. How many shall I ask?”

“Well, my boy, as we are not expecting to keep them over night, six or eight would not, I think, be more than we can accommodate comfortably.”

“And that will be as many as I care to ask at one time,” Max said with satisfaction. “Hunt will be glad to come, I know, and he’s a nice fellow.”

“You’ll want to ask those who are anxious to make Cousin Ronald’s acquaintance, I presume,” said his father.

“Yes, sir, some of them; if I asked all it would include my whole class besides a good many belonging to the others,” laughed Max.

“Very well,” said his father, “you know about how many we can accommodate, and I leave the selection to you, feeling quite sure that my boy will prefer those of good character for his intimate associates.”

“Yes, indeed, papa, and I thank you very much for trusting me.”

The Dolphin was presently at her wharf again and the good-nights had to be said; but, expecting to have Max with them the next day and the day after, even his sisters were not sad over the parting, while the lad himself was jubilant in the pleasant prospect of entertaining his boy friends and comrades on board the yacht. He hurried to his room and filled up the few remaining minutes of the half-hour allowed for recreation before retiring for the night, with giving Hunt, his room-mate, a glowing account of his visit to his father’s vessel, and extending the invitation for the next afternoon and evening, which Hunt accepted promptly and with evident delight.

The next day was spent by most of the party from Woodburn and Ion in walks and drives about the city and its vicinity, varied by some attendance upon the exercises at the Naval Academy; but before tea-time all were on board the yacht again, where they were presently joined by Max and his party.

The lads were all evidently in high good humor and on the tiptoe of expectation, knowing that they were about to make the acquaintance of the ventriloquist of whose tricks Max had told them many an exciting tale.

The introductions were over, all had been comfortably seated, and some few minutes spent in desultory chat, when Hunt, addressing Max, who happened to be his nearest neighbor, asked in a low tone when the show was to begin.

Max smiled and there was a roguish twinkle in his eyes, while at the same instant a voice spoke from behind Hunt, “I say, young fellers in blue, what’s brung so many o’ ye aboard here to oncet?”

There was a simultaneous sudden start and turning of faces and eyes in the direction from which the sounds had come. But the speaker seemed to have instantly disappeared, and the momentary start was followed by a general hearty laugh.

“The captain’s invitation,” replied Hunt, while his eyes and those of the other lads turned upon Mr. Lilburn.

“All right then,” responded the same voice, seeming now to come from a more distant part of the deck; “he owns the yacht and kin ask anybody he’s mind to.”

“Of course,” said Hunt, “and it was very kind in him to ask us. Did he invite you also, sir?”

“None o’ your business,” came in reply in a surly tone.

“Truly a gentlemanly reply,” laughed Hunt. “One might readily infer from it that you were not here by invitation.”

“What do you mean by that, sir?” demanded, the invisible speaker, in loud, angry tones.

“That your conduct and speech proclaim you no gentleman, while Captain Raymond is decidedly such.”

“Come, come, friends, don’t let us have any quarrelling here,” came in pleasant tones from the other side of the vessel.

“Now who are you, sir? This isn’t your fight, and you’d better keep out of it,” returned the first voice; “your interference will be asked for when it’s wanted.”

The lads exchanged looks of surprise and one of them asked:

“Are you doing it all, Mr. Lilburn, sir?”

“Ah ha, ah ha! um h’m, ah ha! so you think ’twas I, young sirs!” exclaimed the old gentleman in pretended astonishment. “And why so? Did the voices issue from my lips?”

“I cannot assert positively that they did, sir,” returned Hunt, “but they seemed to come from an invisible speaker, and knowing you to be a ventriloquist, we think it can all be accounted for in that way.”

“Knowing me to be a ventriloquist, eh, laddie! And may I ask how you came by that same knowledge?”

“Through our friend, a naval cadet like ourselves, Mr. Max Raymond, sir. Do not be vexed with him for telling us. It has excited our admiration and desire to make your acquaintance.”

“Ah, Master Max, so you have been letting these young gentlemen into my secrets?” Mr. Lilburn said, turning toward Max in pretended wrath.

“Yes, sir,” replied Max in cheerful tones, “and the more you show them of your skill in that line the better they will be pleased.”

Just then Max’s dog Prince joined the group, wagging his tail and lifting joyful eyes to his young master’s face.

“Ah, how d’ye do, Prince?” said Max, stroking and patting him. “Are you glad to see me here again?”

“Yes, sir, indeed I am,” were the words that seemed to come in reply from the dog’s lips; “and I wish you’d go back with us when we steam away in this vessel for home.”

“Why, Prince, you talk well indeed for a dog,” laughed Hunt, stroking and patting Prince’s head.

At that instant there was a frightened cry, “Oh, sic’ a fall as I shall hae!” followed instantly by a sound as of the plunge of a heavy body from the side of the vessel into the water.

All started to their feet, several of the men and boys shouting in tones of alarm, “A man overboard!” and Captain Raymond was about to issue an order for the launching of a boat, when a glance at Mr. Lilburn deterred him.

“No occasion, captain,” laughed the old gentleman; “you could never find that poor unfortunate fellow.”

“No, I presume not,” returned the captain, echoing the laugh as he and the others reseated themselves.

“Huh! that’s an old trick o’ yours, old feller,” cried the very same voice that had been heard behind Hunt’s chair. “If I couldn’t invent suthin’ new I’d give up the business.”

“So I think I shall—for to-night, at least,” returned Cousin Ronald, but in a disguised voice that seemed to come from a distance.

Then Walter went to his side and whispered in his ear.

Mr. Lilburn smiled and seemed to assent, but at that instant the call to the supper-table put an end to the sport for the time.

There was some of the same sort of diversion at the table, however, a roast fowl resenting, with a loud squawk, the captain’s attempt to carve it; Prince asking audibly for a share when the plates were filled, and the voice that had been heard talking on deck to the “young fellers in blue” preferring the same request.

These tricks, though old to the others, were new to the cadets and caused a good deal of merriment; as did the buzzing bees, peeping chick, barking pups, and squealing pigs that seemed to have taken possession of the deck on their return thither.

At length these sounds were replied to by a loud and furious barking coming apparently from some remote part of the deck, and to which Prince immediately made response in kind, at the same time rushing away in search of the intruder.

“A pretty time you’ll have finding that newcomer, Prince,” Walter called after him.

But the words were hardly spoken when a third loud bark was heard coming apparently from yet another quarter, and Prince, repeating his, rushed in that direction; then three or four dogs seemed, from the sounds, to be barking, snarling, yelping as though a furious canine fight was in progress; though nothing could be seen of the combatants except the huge form of Prince as he searched in vain for the intruders of his race.

But the noise woke the little ones who had been put to bed in the cabin below, and a frightened wail from them brought a sudden hush, while Violet rose hastily and hurried down the companionway to sooth and reassure her darlings.

That put an end to the ventriloquial sport, and the remainder of the short time allowed for the visit of the cadets was spent in more quiet fashion, desultory talk and the singing of songs.

They had been steaming down the river and bay and back again while they talked and sang; the wharf was reached shortly after nine o’clock and the lads returned safely and in good season to the Academy.

They one and all expressed themselves as highly delighted with their visit to the yacht and were very enthusiastic in their praises of the ladies; particularly Grandma Elsie and Violet, whom they pronounced the sweetest, most beautiful and charming women of their acquaintance.

They felt acquainted with them now, they said, for after Cousin Ronald and Max had ceased their ventriloquial performances they had had an opportunity to talk with the ladies as well as to listen to the music with which they kindly entertained them.

“I have always thought you a fortunate fellow, Max,” remarked Hunt as they were preparing for bed, “and since seeing the yacht and that young grandmother and stepmother of yours, I am more fully convinced of it than ever. I was just going to say I wondered at so young and lovely a creature as Mrs. Raymond marrying a man with a son of your age, and two other children not young enough to be her own; but remembering what your father is—so handsome, noble-looking, so entirely everything any one could ask or desire—I do not wonder at all at her choice. In fact, she may consider herself quite as fortunate as he in the selection of a partner for life.”

“So I think,” responded Max heartily; “for to me it seems that my father’s superior—indeed, I might say his equal—is not to be found anywhere; and I know Mamma Vi would agree with me. I have never known him speak a hasty, sharp, or unkind word to her, and he waits upon her as gallantly as he could possibly have done in the days of their courtship.

“As to the children left him by my own mother—my father promised before marrying Mamma Vi that she should have no care or trouble in regard to them; that he would take all that upon himself; and so he has and does; when he has been at home with us we have always felt that he did. So it is no wonder if we esteem him the dearest and best of fathers; while Mamma Vi is hardly a mother, but more like an older sister to us—unless it may be to Grace, the youngest of our set.”

Here the signal for the extinguishing of lights and retiring to rest put a stop to the conversation, and in a very few minutes the lads were soundly sleeping.

One more day was spent at Annapolis by the Woodburn and Ion people; then an early evening train carried the latter party northward, and an hour later the Dolphin steamed away with the others.

Walter and Rosie would have been glad to go with their mother, but she and their grandfather had decided that it would be better for them to continue their studies for the present, as the time for the summer holidays was not distant; and like the well-trained, affectionate children they were, they submitted cheerfully to her decision, determining to make the best possible use of their opportunity for education.

Their mother expected to be at home again in a fortnight, or sooner, but they had rarely been separated from her for even a day, and the parting was a trial to both. They bore it bravely, however, slept well that night on board the yacht, and rose the next morning apparently as gay and light-hearted as their wont.

They were both early on deck, where they found the captain and Lulu together, watching the sun just peeping above the waver far away to the east.

“Good-morning, brother Levis and Lu,” called Rosie, tripping across the deck in their direction. “I thought Walter and I were extremely early, but there is no use in anybody trying to get ahead of you two in early rising.”

“Good-morning, little sister,” responded the captain, turning toward her with his pleasant smile. “There was no occasion for you and Walter to leave your couches quite so early this morning, or for either of you to do so. I believe Lulu and I happen to be of the kind who need a little less sleep than do many others.”

“Yes,” said Lulu, with a loving look up into her father’s face, “papa would let me sleep another hour if I wanted to, but I almost always wake early and do so enjoy the little time that it gives me with him before the others are up and wanting some of his attention for themselves.”

“I don’t wonder,” said Walter, “for I like to be with mamma the first thing in the morning dearly well.”

The boy’s voice sounded a little choked at the last, and he dropped his eyes lest the others should see the sudden tears welling up in them.

The captain laid a kind hand on the lad’s shoulder. “If our dear mother is awake now she is doubtless thinking lovingly of her youngest son and asking God to bless and keep him from all evil. You may hope to see her again in about two weeks, which will pass very quickly, and in the mean time let us think of all we can accomplish to give her pleasure on her return,” he said. “Shall we not, little brother?”

“Yes, oh, yes, sir!” replied Walter, looking up brightly into the pleasant face above him. “I mean to study hard and keep all your rules carefully, so that you can give her a good account of my conduct and recitations. Oh, there’s the sun just entirely up out of the water! What a grand sight it is!”

“One that I never weary of,” said Captain Raymond in a meditative tone and gazing eastward upon the newly risen luminary as he spoke. “It reminds me of Him who is called the Sun of righteousness, because He is the quickener, comforter, and illuminator of His people.”

“Papa, didn’t people in the Old Testament times worship the sun?” asked Lulu.

“Yes,” replied her father, “it is thought that the Moloch of the Ammonites, the Chemosh of the Moabites, and the Baal of the Phoenicians was the sun.”

“I remember that the Israelites also sometimes wandered away from the true God and worshipped Baal,” remarked Walter; “that Elijah the prophet slew of Baal’s prophets four hundred and fifty men; and that afterward Jehu filled a house with Baal’s prophets, priests, and worshippers and had them all put to death.”

“Yes,” the captain said, “that was in accordance with the command of God given in Deuteronomy, seventeenth chapter. I will read it to you,” he added, taking a small Bible from his pocket. Turning to the passage he read:

“If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it be told thee and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold it be true, and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel; then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die.”

“That gives us some insight into God’s hatred of idolatry,” remarked the captain, closing the book.

“Yes, sir,” said Rosie. “I am reading Deuteronomy just now in my regular course. I was at the fourth chapter yesterday, and was struck with what is said there about the worship of images. Won’t you turn to the chapter and read it aloud to us, brother Levis?”

“Certainly,” he replied, opening the book again and turning to the passage to which she had referred. Beginning at the fifteenth verse he read:

“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.... Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it but shall utterly be destroyed.”

“I would have you all notice,” the captain said, again closing the book and speaking with earnestness, “how plainly and repeatedly God forbids the worship of images, likenesses, or of any of the creatures or things he hath made; how repeatedly and expressly he commands us to worship him and him alone.”

“Ah, no wonder that the popish priests forbid their people to read the Bible for themselves,” said Rosie, “for from it they would soon learn the wickedness of bowing down to and worshipping images, crucifixes, and pictures.”

“Yes,” replied Captain Raymond, “and I would far sooner lay my children in the grave, dearly, dearly as I love them, than to see them bowing down to images and pictures; serving ‘gods the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.’ How precious is the promise that follows in that same chapter, ‘But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice (for the Lord thy God is a merciful God), he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.’

“Verily I believe that we of the Anglo-Saxon nations are the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—God’s own chosen people—so that we have the strongest claim to these precious promises; but let us never forget that they are ours only as we fulfil the prescribed conditions; without true repentance and true faith we shall no more be saved than those of other nations who do not seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near.”

Just then little feet came pit-pat across the deck, a sweet child voice calling out, “Good-morning, papa, dear papa, I’s an early bird too, isn’t I?”

“Quite an early bird for such a wee one,” the captain answered, holding out his arms, then as she sprang into them clasping her close and kissing her fondly again and again; the next moment doing the same by Grace, who had followed closely in Elsie’s wake.

The rest of their party soon joined them, then came breakfast and family worship; after those an hour or two on deck; then the vessel steamed into the harbor, her passengers landed and found the Woodburn carriage in waiting, with those from Fairview and Ion; Edward and Zoe with their twin babies in the one, Lester and Elsie Leland, with their two boys, in the other.

Affectionate greetings were exchanged, and soon all were on their homeward way. They found the drive delightful, the roads in excellent condition, gardens, fields, and woods arrayed in all the luxuriant verdure and bloom of the month of roses.

The children in the Woodburn carriage seemed full of mirth and jollity.

“Really I don’t believe anyone of you is sorry to be nearing home again,” their father said, regarding them with eyes full of paternal affection and pleasure in their evident enjoyment.

“No, indeed, papa,” cried the little girls in chorus, while Ned said in his baby fashion: “I’s blad, papa; my home is a dood place; me ’ikes it, me does.”

“Mamma echoes that sentiment, baby boy,” laughed Violet, giving the little fellow a hug. “There’s no place like home; home with dear papa and all the dear sisters in it.”

“Bruver Maxie too?” returned the little fellow in a tone between inquiry and assertion.

“Ah, no; not just now,” Violet answered with a slight sigh, for she loved Max and missed his cheery presence in the house.

“Ah, here we are!” the captain exclaimed presently as the carriage turned into the driveway.

“And everything is looking oh, so lovely!” cried Lulu, clapping her hands with delight. “And there is Marian on the veranda, waiting for us.”

The other two carriages were not far behind. It had been arranged that all should dine together at Woodburn; so they also turned in at the gates, and presently all had alighted and were one after the other warmly greeting Marian. She was glad to learn that Mr. Lilburn had been invited to make Woodburn his home for some weeks and had accepted the invitation, so that she would see much of him for a time at least and become better acquainted. He had been so kind to her that she felt already a warm affection for him as a near and dear relative.