Out at sea opposite, facing south and almost on the horizon line, a lot of vessels could be seen scudding down Channel, under short canvas but outward bound, just coming in sight beyond Saint Helen's to make sure of their landfall and then disappearing the next moment behind the Isle of Wight, which shut them out from view; while, to the left, snugly sheltered under the lee of the Ryde hills, several others had run in and anchored off the Motherbank, waiting for a change of wind before proceeding on their voyage up, along the coast, to the river--`the river' of the world, the Thames! As Bob and Nellie gazed out, taking in all these varied details of the scene by degrees, they could not help being pleased, everything was so novel; but, they saw something else beyond the prospect which cast `a damper' over their spirits, theoretically as well as practically. This was the rain, which came in squalls, the smart showers hurtling down in pattering intensity, momentarily shutting out the sea and its surroundings from sight; while the swollen raindrops dashed against the window-panes like hail, trying, like the whirling storm-blast, to force a passage into every nook and cranny that lay open to attack. "Oh dear!" sighed Bob dismally, his nose pressed like a piece of putty against the glass. "It's awful rain, Nell; I don't think it will ever stop!" "Oh dear!" sighed Nellie, in responsive echo; but, just then their aunt bustled into the room, her face the picture of good-humour, in marked contrast to theirs, and she caught the mournful exclamation--"Oh dear!" "Why, what's the matter?" asked Mrs Gilmour, in a cheerful tone, on their turning round as she entered. "To look at you both, one would think that something dreadful had happened!" "It's raining," said Bob, in a melancholy tone. "It's raining, auntie!" "So I can see," retorted Mrs Gilmour. "Haven't I got eyes of my own, sure, me dear?" "But we shan't be able to go out, auntie," cried Nellie, in the most broken-hearted way. "We shan't be able to go out!" "You need not be so disconsolate about that, dearie," said the other smiling. "It may not rain all day; and, if so, you'll be able to get out between the breaks when it holds up. But, there's Sarah ringing the bell, so, children, let us go downstairs now to the parlour; perhaps by the time we have finished breakfast it will have cleared up and be quite fine." These cheery words, combined possibly with a savoury odour of frizzled bacon and hot coffee that came up appetisingly from below, had the effect, for a while at least, of banishing Bob and Nellie's gloom, and without further ado they accompanied their aunt to the breakfast-room downstairs. Here, stretched on the hearthrug before the grate, in which a bright cosy little fire was blazing and looking uncommonly cheery, although it was now summer, lay Rover.