'Won't go without him,' said Bell, briefly. 'There are cases where
it is better to submit than to fight.'

So the last good-byes were said, and Elsie bore up bravely; better,
indeed, than the others, who shed many a furtive tear at leaving her.
'Make haste and get well, darling,' whispered the girls, lovingly.

'Pray, pray, dear Mrs. Howard, bring her down to us as soon as
possible. We'll take such good care of her,' teased Bell, with one
last squeeze, and strong signs of a shower in both eyes.

'Come, girls and boys,' said kind Dr. Paul, 'the steamer has blown
her first whistle, and we must be off.'

Oh, how clear and beautiful a day it was, and how charmingly gracious
Dame Ocean looked in her white caps and blue ruffles! Even the
combination steamboat smell of dinner, oil, and close air was
obliterated by the keen sea-breeze.

The good ship Orizaba ploughed her way through the sparkling, sun-lit
waves, traversing quickly the distance which lay between the young
people and their destination. They watched the long white furrow
that stretched in her wake, the cloud of black smoke which floated
like a dark shadow above the laughing crests of the waves, and the
flocks of sea-gulls sailing overhead, with wild shrill screams ever
and anon swooping down for some bit of food flung from the ship, and
then floating for miles on the waves.

How they sung 'Life on the Ocean Wave,' 'Bounding Billow,' and
'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep!' How Jack chanted, -