spared; there's my purse. The doctor seemed a
downright good sort of chap and _she_ is worth a gold-mine!' He
pointed to the nurse, who was deftly bathing Alick's burning brow.

'What a splendid lad that Price is! He's the very salt of the earth!'
murmured the old captain, as he threaded his way later through the
unsavoury streets, now ablaze with lights that enticed and beckoned
forth misery to stalk out from every dark corner. 'He is a true
Christian--that's what it is! To think how my boys have ill-treated
him, and here he is caring for Alick so tenderly that the poor boy's
mother couldn't have done more, had she been spared! That's what you
call returning good for evil, with a vengeance! Well, well, please
God, I'll mend my own ways too! If I have my girl and my boy both
restored to me, I'll be a different father to them from what I have
been.'

It had been borne in upon the captain's mind, during the cloud of
sorrow overshadowing his home, that he had, somehow, failed in his
duty. And, with the courage that belongs only to the brave heart, he
admitted his shortcomings.

There was tremendous excitement in Northbourne when it was known that
Alick had actually been found. The Bunk was besieged by an
ever-growing crowd, anxious to have the news verified. And where was
Ned Dempster? The captain himself had to assure them his next step
would be to discover the hapless Ned. Yes, yes; Ned also should be
found and brought back. Not a stone should be left unturned until he
rescued Ned likewise.

And the old sailor kept his word. On his return to London he and
Philip Price took it in turn, between their spells of watching beside
Alick's sick-bed, to seek out the wandering half of the show-circus.
Time went on, but they were still unsuccessful, however. Not until the
fever died out, and Alick, weak and exhausted, almost beyond building
up, began to show faint signs of interest in his surroundings, could
any questions be put to him. It was Philip Price who managed, without
agitating the sufferer, to win from his feeble lips the name of the
show. After that it was a tolerably easy matter to unearth its
whereabouts.

On demanding Ned's release, a series of denials met them as to the boy
being with the establishment at all. A storm of furious resistance
which followed had to be quelled by the stern detective who accompanied
the captain in his raid upon the show. Back in triumph to the
Whitechapel attic