and more on his prospective trip.

"Don't you notice quite a change in Bob?" asked Mrs. Henderson of
her husband the next day. "He seems to have settled down, and he
hasn't played a joke in a long time."

"No, he hasn't. But you know the proverb about a new broom sweeping
clean. Just now Bob's mind is so full of the sea that he thinks of
nothing else. Wait a while. If he gets away with Captain Spark
without playing some sort of a trick before he goes I'll be
agreeably disappointed."

"I think he will. I'm so glad the captain came to pay us a visit
when he did. It was a lucky thing for Bob."

"I think it was. He was getting quite reckless in his pranks."

The subject of this conversation was, of course, not aware of it.
The truth was that Bob was fairly holding himself in. He saw many
opportunities to play jokes--more, in fact, than he had ever seen
before. It was a great temptation to indulge in pranks, but he
reflected that if he got into any more trouble he might not be
allowed to take the sea voyage.

"And I wouldn't want that to happen for the world," he said to
himself. "Still I know a couple of dandy jokes I could play before
I go. Maybe I might get Ted Neefus to do 'em, but I don't believe
he could do 'em as good as I can."

Bob was pondering over the rather queer fact to him that old folks