"I got up when Sarah rose, and have been ready to go downstairs for the last hour," she said calmly, with a conscious pride. "You'd better look sharp with your dressing, Bob, for it is past six o'clock. Unless you start off soon to the beach, too, for your bathe, you'll never be back in time for breakfast, which is going to be earlier this morning so that we may catch the steamer comfortably." "My good gracious!" exclaimed Bob, jamming his right foot into his left boot in his hurry and wasting a minute or more in wriggling it out again. "I thought I was ever so early, and up before any one!" "Ah, me dear," cried out Mrs Gilmour from below; "you'll have to catch a weasel asleep, sure, before you can hope, sir, to get ahead of us in this house. I called Sarah long ere either of you were stirring!" This was a climax; and so, without making any reply to aunt Polly's pertinent statement of fact, save a stifled laugh at the expense of Miss Nell, who had prided herself on having, as she thought, got the start of them all, Bob expediting his dressing in the most summary fashion, hurried off as speedily as possible across the common for his matutinal dip. He was accompanied, as a matter of course, by Rover, who was ready and waiting for him on the terrace outside, barking and bounding about like a demented dog who had parted company with his usual stock of common- sense. "Down, Rover!" cried Bob, when the faithful fellow, in the exuberance of his joy on seeing his young master come out of the house, leaped up and licked his face, preventing him from closing the door properly as he was about to do. "Behave yourself, sir!" Rover, however, thought there were different ways of "behaving himself," the chief in his estimation being to show his affection to those who were kind to him, whom he loved with all the intensity of his great canine heart; and so, ranking obedience to orders as only second to this potent law of his life, he frisked and jumped and playfully tousled Bob until he finally made him start at a swinging trot for the beach, the frolicsome retriever galloping in advance one moment, the next stopping in his mad career onward to give out a loud bark and wag his tail in encouragement to his master to try and catch him up, if he could! Bob bent his steps towards the coastguard-station on the eastern side of the sea-wall, near the new pier, which was the regular meeting-place for him and Dick every morning for their bathe; and here, punctually at "six Bells," or seven o'clock, he found on the present occasion his fellow- swimmer along with the Captain. The latter, he could hear as he approached, was having an animated discussion with Hellyer, the chief boatman, on the subject of torpedoes, which Hellyer believed in, but which the Captain utterly pooh-poohed, saying that in his opinion they were of little, if any, use in naval warfare. He was laying down the law with great unction when Bob came up to them.