e doctor said so, and it was to be presumed that he
was right.

Jacky had regularly constituted himself sick nurse to the old woman.
Despite the entreaties of Flora and his sister, who feared that the
disease might be infectious, he could not be prevailed on to remain
away. His nursing did not, indeed, consist in doing much that was
useful. He confined himself chiefly to playing on the river-banks near
the hut, and to making occasional inquiries as to how the patient was
getting on. Sometimes he also assisted Flora in holding sundry cups,
and glasses, and medicine bottles, and when Flora was away he amused
himself by playing practical jokes on the young woman who had
volunteered to act as regular nurse to the old invalid.

Towards the afternoon, Jacky put his hands behind his back--he would
have put them under his coat-tails if he had had any, for he was very
old-mannish in his tendencies--and sauntered down the road towards the
pass. At this same time it chanced that another little boy, more than
twice Jacky's age, was walking smartly along the same road towards the
same pass from the other side of it. There were as yet several miles
between the two boys, but the pace at which the elder walked bid fair to
bring them face to face within an hour. The boy whom we now introduce
was evidently a sailor. He wore blue trousers, a blue vest with little
brass buttons, a blue jacket with bigger brass buttons, and a blue cap
with a brass button on either side--each brass button, on coat, cap, and
vest, having an anchor of, (apparently), burnished gold in the centre of
it. He had clear blue eyes, brown curly hair, and an easy, offhand
swagger, which last was the result of a sea-faring life and example; but
he had a kindly and happy, rather than a boastful or self-satisfied,
expression of face, as he bowled along with his hands in his pockets,
kicking all the stones out of his way, and whistling furiously.
Sometimes he burst into a song, and once or twice he laughed, smote his
thigh, and cheered, but never for a moment did he slacken his pace,
although he had walked many a mile that day.

Curiously enough, at this same time, a man was crouching behind some
bushes in the centre of the pass towards which these two boys were
approaching. This man had a pair of grey eyes which might have been
beautiful had they not been small and ferocious-looking, and a nose
which might have been aquiline had the bridge not been broken, and