Nightbirds on Nantucket Page 17

  "So long!" said Nate.

  "You'll always be welcome in Nantucket," said Doctor Mayhew. "You saved it from a fate far, far worse than death."

  "Thee is a good child," said Captain Casket.

  "Your Ladyship's carriage stops the way," said Mr. Jenkins.

  Dido jumped down into the gig and was rowed across. When she reached the Thrush they piped her on board as if she had been the Queen herself, and the captain invited her to sit at his table. But she waited on deck, watching and waving until the Sarah Casket, escorted most joyfully by the pink whale, had started back to Nantucket and was out of sight.

  When Dido returned next year to visit Pen, she found that Captain Casket had given up seafaring. Since the pink whale had returned, his only wish was to live on Nantucket and watch her every day as she sported and frolicked off its shores.

  And, as whales and sea captains are both notoriously long-lived, it is possible that if you go to Nantucket today you may still have a sight of them.

  Sweet whale of Nantucket, so pink and so round,

  The pride of our island, the pearl of the Sound,

  By Providence blest to our shores you were led,

  Long, long may you gambol off Sankaty Head!