The Crusoes of the Frozen North

"I'm sure of one thing," said Aralia to her little sister Pansy, as they sat together one lovely summer afternoon on the garden seat, and gazed away and away far over the North Sea. "I'm quite sure of one thing. Nobody ever could have so good an uncle as our uncle. Now, could anybody, Pansy?"
"Oh no!" answered Pansy, shaking her pretty head. Pansy was hardly eight years old, and always agreed with her older sister, who was nearly eleven.
"How I wish he were home again from his old ship," sighed Aralia, "and Tom with him!"
"Well, Ara, we can sit here hours and hours every day and watch the sea, can't we?"