CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
A LAST WORD.
There was a warning shriek from the engine's steam-whistle, as if it were impatient to be off, and angrily wanting to know why it was kept thus unnecessarily waiting.
Following up the scream of the whistle came the last cling! clang! of the railway-porter's bell, telling belated passengers that "time" was "up." Next ensued the scrambling and scurrying of the aforesaid belated passengers, who always appear to put off making up their minds as to whether they shall start or not until the last moment of grace has expired.
Then, finally, after much clanging of doors upon the backs of those thus nearly left behind, with a snort of indignation and defiance of things in general, and late passengers in particular, the panting, puffing, fuming iron horse metaphorically and practically "put his shoulder to the wheel," lugging the rolling, rumbling, heavy train out of the station Londonwards, with a "puff-puff, pant-pant!" from his hoarse throat, answered by the groans and creaks of sympathy from the laden carriages and the clinking rattle of the coupling-chains, as they drew taut from the tension, lending a sort of cymbal-like accompaniment to the noisy chorus.
Bob and Nellie watched their aunt and the Captain standing on the platform, waving their handkerchiefs from the window of their compartment, which they found it a hard matter to shove their heads through two at a time, until a bend in the line swept aunt Pollys Captain Dresser, platform and all out of sight.
Then, sitting down disconsolately in their seats, Bob, who, of course, thought it unmanly to cry, screwed himself up in a corner in default of that alleviation of his misery, looking the very picture of woe; while poor Nell, being a girl and freed from such Spartan obligations, sought refuge from her sorrow in silent tears.
"Now, Nellie dear," said her mother reprovingly, "you mustn't be so foolish! Of course, I can make allowance for your sorrow at leaving Southsea, where you have been so happy; but these partings, dearie, will come some time or other, and, besides, you know, both aunt Polly and Captain Dresser have promised to come up to us at Christmas, so you'll see them again soon." This made poor Nell try to compose herself; and presently she smiled through her tears, exchanging reminiscences of the past few weeks of their enjoyment by the sea with Bob, who also, after a time, shook off his grumpiness--the feeling that they were going "home" again, by and by overcoming their depression at leaving, perhaps for ever, the scene of so many delights and such a terrible ordeal at the last! "I wonder how old Blinkie will look ?" said Bob, trying to picture the jackdaw as he would appear when conscious of his owner's return; and then, deciding in his own mind that the only tribute of affection which he might expect would, most probably, be a sharp peck from Blinkie's beak, he added, "I dare say he won't remember me at all!" Nellie's thoughts were directed to Snuffles the asthmatic cat, her great pet; and she believed that highly-trained animal would not only know her again after her long absence, but would certainly express her satisfaction in a much more endearing manner, if not quite so touching or pointed! Thus the two beguiled the tedium of their journey; and, such was their joy on the train's arrival in town at last, that no one would have believed them to be the same Bob and Nell who had given way so greatly to their grief on leaving the seaside! Naturally, Rover's pleasure at being released from his temporary imprisonment in the guard's van could be easily accounted for; but, the way in which, when he got back to his old home, he walked deliberately to the bottom of the garden in perfect remembrance of the spot where he had buried his last bone before going away, showed that he, at least, did not forget so easily.
The dog's memory, too, was equally green concerning his old friends Snuffles and Blinkie, as that of his young master and mistress; for he so sniffed and snuffed Snuffles in his exuberance at seeing her again, that he seriously disarranged her fur, while he allowed the jackdaw to peck at his legs and even his nose, without the slightest attempt at retaliation! Not long after their getting back, Bob and Nell had a great joke all to themselves.
Their father and mother were sending down an invalid chair for Mrs Craddock's daughter, one in which she could be taken out into the open- air--it was a thing for which the poor girl had always been longing, as aunt Polly managed to find out for them when they were thinking of what sort of return they could make for the kind way in which the old lady's son had rescued Bob, Jim himself refusing any recompense whatever, despite all the barrister's and Captain Dresser's efforts.
So, this parcel being about to be dispatched "Down the line," Master Bob and Miss Nell bethought them that they would send a present too; not only to Dick, who was always in their minds, but one also for--whom do you think?
Why, for Sarah, "the good Sarah!" And, what do you think the present was, eh?
You would never guess.
Well, a nice little loaf of bread and an ounce packet of the best black tea, both packed up in a very pretty box that also contained a remarkably smart cap, with ribbons of a colour such as the soul of Sarah loved.
Nor was this all, On the lid of the box was an elaborate device in hieroglyphic characters, which could be readily understood when properly explained by the young designers, detailing the leading incidents of a celebrated picnic in the woods which once occurred; although, possibly the uninitiated might experience some little difficulty at first in discriminating between what were meant for the figures of the principal personages of the story and the objects of still life depicted in the drawing, though otherwise it was an admirable work of art.
Regarding the copy of verses also pinned on to the box, which the device in question was intended to illustrate, there could be no mistake; the verses, indeed, being a replica of an original poem, preserved in the Bobo-Nellonian archives and entitled, "Sarah's forget-me-nots," wherewith the reader has been already made acquainted.
The parcel was duly dispatched down to Southsea; but, though Nellie subsequently wrote a nice little letter to the Captain in her own nice handwriting, large and legible, such as the old sailor could read comfortably without spectacles, wherein she mentioned all the latest news of her aquarium tenants, telling how the hermit crab had distrained for his rent on a young lobster who had cast-off his shell, and that a small skate objected to the ice, she could learn nothing of how "the good Sarah" received her present.
Nor could Bob gain any information on the subject from aunt Polly, to whom he sent a long epistle bearing on the same momentous theme.
Both had to wait to have their curiosity satisfied until their aunt Polly and Captain Dresser came up to London at Christmastide; when at length the two of them managed to worm the secret out of the Captain.
The old sailor had been giving them all the news about those they had known down at Southsea; how Dick had at last been accepted for the navy and entered as a second-class boy on board the _Saint Vincent_, being bound to make a full able-bodied sailor in time; and how Hellyer had got a little pension in addition to his pay, as he was now "chief officer" of the coastguard; after which, the Captain at last referred to Sarah, "the good Sarah!" "By Jove!" said he, "I shall never forget that night your box came! I was playing cribbage with your aunt Polly--and she cheated me, too, by the same token, in the fuss that occurred on opening the parcel, by scoring `two for his heels,' when it only should have been `one for his nob.' You never saw such a disgraceful thing done in your life, really a most barefaced piece of cheating!" "Oh!" exclaimed Mrs Gilmour.

"Sure, I'm listening to all those stories you are telling! Won't I pay you out, too, by and by, when you come round to `the Moorings' again.

You just wait and see!" "I assure you, ma'am, it's a fact," persisted the Captain unblushingly, his little eyes blinking with fun under his bushy eyebrows, which were going up and down at a fine rate, I can tell you.

"I saw you move the pegs, ma'am, when you thought I wasn't looking!" "But, what did Sarah say ?" asked Nellie, clinging to the old sailor and trying to attract his attention to the point at issue, from which he seemed sadly inclined to stray.

"What did the good Sarah say ?" "Eh ?" said he, cocking his head on one side in his most bird-like fashion and pretending not to understand his questioner.