Raymond an appreciative look and smile.

"Papa, didn't you say she wasn't a real ship?" asked little Elsie, looking
up enquiringly into her father's face.

"Yes, my child, but in all you could perceive in going aboard of her she
is exactly like one--a fac-simile of the coast-line battleship _Illinois_,
which is a very powerful vessel."

"And are her guns real, papa? Mightn't they go off and shoot us?"

"No, daughter, there is no danger of that. The largest ones are wooden
models, and though quite a number are real and capable of doing terrible
execution, there is not the slightest danger of their being used on us."

"I'm not one bit afraid of them!" cried little Ned, straightening himself
up with a very brave, defiant air. "Not with papa along, anyhow."

"No, you needn't be, Ned," laughed Walter, "for most assuredly nobody
would dare to shoot Captain Raymond or anybody under his care."

"No, indeed, I should think not," chuckled the little fellow, with a
proudly affectionate look up into his father's face.

"No, nor any other visitor to the ship," said the captain. "We may go
there without feeling the least apprehension of such a reception."

"So we will start for the _Illinois_ as soon as we are ready for the day's
pleasures," said Violet, smiling into the bright little face of her boy.