Rupert was a good deal displeased at being carried off so quickly, but the parents knew that those on the rock would have too much to discuss to wish their visitors to remain. The little autocrat was pacified by hearing that Pat and Jim should come to see him at home quite soon, and whilst the boat sailed away in the distance, Pat was told the wonderful news, whilst Jim sat still on the rock which was his usual seat out of doors, and gazed out over the sparkling water, his hands clasped together on the top of his stick, and his chin resting upon them in meditative fashion. "Oh!" cried Pat, when he fully understood the whole matter; "isn't it wonderful? Isn't it just like a story, mother? Oh, Jim! what do you think about it?" "Why, it seems to me," answered the man quietly, "for all the world as though the Lord had done it. It's just His way of helping us out of the deep waters, and it's too good not to be true." [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XII _HAPPY DAYS_ It was a lovely evening in August. The sun was setting in a blaze of splendour over the sparkling sea. The smooth shaven lawns and majestic sweep of park land around the fine old Tudor house were looking their loveliest upon an evening like this, and down by the sea, just where the creek ran up through a belt of woodland, and into the very garden itself, a man and a boy were waiting beside a neat little boat, fitted with cushions and other requisites of comfort, as if in expectation that somebody from the great house behind the trees would shortly be coming down for an evening row or sail. The man and the boy were both dressed in suits of sailor blue. Their caps were of the same pattern, and had in gold letters round them the words, "Prince Rupert." The same words were painted in gilt letters upon the pretty boat; and the little boy--who was none other than Pat, only grown wonderfully brown and healthy and strong-looking--sometimes glanced at the name with a smile, and then up at Jim's smart head-gear. "This is better than Lone Rock, isn't it, Jim?" he said, breaking the silence which had lasted some considerable time. "We didn't think last summer ever to be in a place like this." "No, that we didn't," answered Jim, with the smile, which was now so frequently seen, and which lightened his rugged face wonderfully. "It's a better place than ever I dreamed of once; though I know now there's a better one still waiting for us by-and-by."