CHAPTEE XVII. (AND LAST). 



HOMEWARD BOUXI). 



At last we were homeward bound. We had been seven 

 weeks in the island. AVe had promised to be back in Eng- 

 land, if possible, within the three months ; and we had a 

 certain pride in keeping our promise, not only for its own 

 sake, but for the sake of the dear AVest Indies. We wished 

 to show those at home how easy it was to get there ; how 

 easy to get home again. Moreover, though going to sea in 

 the Shannon was not quite the same " as going to sea in a 

 sieve," our stay-at-home friends were of the same mind as 

 those of the dear little Jumblies, whom Mr. Lear has made 

 immortal in his " Xew Book of Xonsense " ; and we were 

 bound to come back as soon as possible, and not "in 

 twenty years or more," if we wished them to say : 



*' If we live, 

 We too will go to sea in a sieve. 

 To the Hills of the Chankly bore." 



