I borrowed the king's navy--a "ship" no bigger than a steam launch--and was soon ready.
The parting--ah, yes, that was hard.

As I was devouring the child with last kisses, it brisked up and jabbered out its vocabulary! -- the first time in more than two weeks, and it made fools of us for joy.

The darling mispronunciations of childhood!--dear me, there's no music that can touch it; and how one grieves when it wastes away and dissolves into correctness, knowing it will never visit his bereaved ear again.

Well, how good it was to be able to carry that gracious memory away with me! I approached England the next morning, with the wide highway of salt water all to myself.

There were ships in the harbor, at Dover, but they were naked as to sails, and there was no sign of life about them.