It must not be supposed that from this date everything in the affairs of our various friends flowed on in a tranquil, uninterrupted course. This world is a battle-field, on which no warrior finds rest until he dies; and yet, to the Christian warrior on that field, the hour of death is the hour of victory. "Change" is written in broad letters on everything connected with Time; and he who would do his duty well, and enjoy the greatest possible amount of happiness here, must seek to prepare himself for every change. Men cannot escape the general law. The current of their particular stream may long run smooth, but sooner or later the rugged channel and the precipice will come. Some streams run quietly for many a league, and only at the last are troubled. Others burst from their very birth on rocks of difficulty, and rush, throughout their course, in tortuous, broken channels.

So was it with the actors in our story. Our hero's course was smooth. Having fallen in love with his friend Tom Singleton's profession, he studied medicine and surgery, became an M.D., and returned to practise in Grayton, which was a flourishing sea-port, and, during the course of Fred's career, extended considerably. Fred also fell in love with a pretty young girl in a neighbouring town, and married her. Tom Singleton also took up his abode in Grayton, there being, as he said, "room for two." Ever since Tom had seen Isobel on the end of the quay, on the day when the Dolphin set sail for the Polar Regions, his heart had been taken prisoner. Isobel refused to give it back unless he, Tom, should return the heart which he had stolen from her. This he could not do, so it was agreed that the two hearts should be tied together, and they two should be constituted joint guardians of both. In short, they were married, and took Mrs. Bright to live with them, not far from the residence of old Mr. Singleton, who was the fattest and jolliest old gentleman in the place, and the very idol of dogs and boys, who loved him to distraction.

Captain Ellice, having had, as he said, "more than his share of the sea," resolved to live on shore, and, being possessed of a moderately comfortable income, he purchased Mrs. Bright's cottage on the green hill that overlooked the harbour and the sea. Here he became celebrated for his benevolence, and for the energy with which he entered into all the schemes that were devised for the benefit of the town of Grayton. Like Tom Singleton and Fred, he became deeply interested in the condition of the poor, and had a special weakness for poor old women, which he exhibited by searching up, and doing good to, every poor old woman in the parish. Captain Ellice was also celebrated for his garden, which was a remarkably fine one; for his flagstaff, which was a remarkably tall and magnificent one; and for his telescope, which constantly protruded from his drawingroom window, and pointed in the direction of the sea.

As for the others—Captain Guy continued his career at sea as commander of an East Indiaman. He remained stout and true-hearted to the last, like one of the oak timbers of his own good ship.

Bolton, Saunders, Mivins, Peter Grim, Amos Parr, and the rest of them, were scattered in a few years, as sailors usually are, to the four quarters of the globe. O'Riley alone was heard of again. He wrote to Buzzby "by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd aboord the Dolfin," informing him that he had forsaken the "say" and become a small farmer near Cork. He had plenty of murphies and also a pig—the latter "bein'" he said, "so like the wan that belonged to his owld grandmother, that he thought it must be the same wan corned alive agin, or its darter."

And Buzzby—poor Buzzby—he also gave up the sea, much against his will, by command of his wife, and took to miscellaneous work, of which there was plenty for an active man in a sea-port like Grayton. His rudder, poor man, was again (and this time permanently) lashed amid-ships, and whatever breeze Mrs. Buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail right before it. The two little Buzzbys were the joy of their father's heart. They were genuine little true-blues, both of them, and went to sea the moment their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage after voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of money to their worthy parents.

Dumps resided during the remainder of his days with Captain Ellice, and Poker dwelt with Buzzby. These truly remarkable dogs kept up their attachment to each other to the end. Indeed, as time passed by, they drew closer and closer together, for Poker became more sedate, and, consequently, a more suitable companion for his ancient friend. The dogs formed a connecting link between the Buzzby and Ellice families—constantly reminding each of the other's existence by the daily interchange of visits.

Fred and Tom soon came to be known as the best doctors with which that part of the country had ever been blessed. And the secret of their success lay in this, that while they ministered to the diseased bodies of men, they also ministered to their diseased souls. With skilful hands they sought to arrest the progress of decay; but when all their remedies failed, they did not merely cease their efforts and retire—they turned to the pages of divine truth, and directed the gaze of the dying sufferers to Jesus Christ, the Great Physician of souls. When death had done its work, they did not quit the mourning household as if they were needed there no longer, but kneeling down with the bereaved, they prayed to Him who alone can bind up the broken heart, and besought the Holy Spirit to comfort the stricken ones in their deep affliction.

Thus Fred and his friend went hand in hand together, respected and blessed by all who knew them—each year as it passed cementing closer and closer that undying friendship which had first started into being in the gay season of boyhood, and had bloomed and ripened amid the adventures, dangers, and vicissitudes of the World of Ice.

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