Well I knowed the two streaks o' white paint, let alone the screechin' o' the parrots which I could hear from the bank.

I could see the heads o' some of the men peepin' over the side, so I waves my handkercher, and one o' them he waves back.

'Trust Jim for knowin' his little wife,' says I, proud like to myself, and I runs round to where I knew as they'd dock her.
What with me being that excited that I couldn't rightly see where I was going, and what with the crowd, for the men was comin' from work, I didn't get there till the ship was alongside.

Then I jumps aboard, and the first man I seed was Sandy McPherson, who I knowed when we lived in Binnacle Lane.

'Where's Jim ?' I cried, running forward, eager like, to the forecastle, but he caught me by the arm as I passed him.
'Steady, lass, steady!' Then I looked up at him, and his face was very grave, and my knees got kind o' weak.