gigantic bolster. He carried it into the parlour on his shoulder, and
Minnie followed him.

"Where shall I sling it, lass?"

"Here, perhaps," said Minnie.

The captain wheeled round as she spoke, and the end of the hammock
swept the mantelpiece of all its ornaments, as completely as if the
besom of destruction had passed over it.

"Shiver my timbers!" gasped the captain, awestruck by the hideous
crash that followed.

"You've shivered the ornaments at any rate," said Minnie,
half-laughing and half-crying.

"So I have, but no matter. Never say die so long's there a shot in
the locker. There's as good fish in the sea as ever come out of it;
so bear a hand, my girl, and help me to sling up the hammock."

The hammock was slung, the pipe of peace was smoked, and thus Captain
Ogilvy was fairly installed in his sister's cottage.

It may, perhaps, be necessary to remind the reader that all this is a
long digression; that the events just narrated occurred a few days
before the return of Ruby, and that they have been recorded here in
order to explain clearly the reason of the captain's appearance at
the supper table of his sister, and the position which he occupied in
the family.