back immediately that the parcel had been
found all right, and would be sent on as soon as possible. I told this
to the old lady, who seemed quite pleased, and went on to the platform
to wait.

"I was pretty busy for the next quarter of an hour, for it was market
day at the next town, but I noticed through the window that the old lady
was standing on the platform, gazing steadily up at the sky.

"`Broxley--third class,' said a big farmer at that moment, with a head
like one of his own turnips.

"I gave him his ticket, and for five minutes more I was kept pretty
busy, when up came the train; in got the struggling crowd; whew! went
the whistle, and away went the whole affair, leaving no one on the
platform but the porter, and the old woman still staring up at the sky.

"`What's the matter, madam?' I asked.

"`Matter!' she exclaimed, `a pretty telegraph _yours_ is to be sure!
wuss than the old carrier by a long way. Here 'ave I bin standin' for
full 'alf-an-hour with my neck nigh broke, and there's no sign of it
yet.'

"`No sign of what, madam?'

"`Of my brown paper passel, to be sure. Didn't you tell me, young man,
that they said they'd send it by telegraph as soon as possible?'

"`No, madam,' I replied, `I told you they had telegraphed to say they
would send it on as soon as possible--meaning, of course, by rail, for
we have not yet discovered the method of sending parcels by telegraph--
though, no doubt, we shall in course of time. If you'll give me your
address I'll send the parcel to you.'

"`Thank you, young man. Do,' she said, giving me an old envelope with
her name on it. `Be sure you do. I don't mind the money much, but I
couldn't a-bear to lose that muffler. It was _such_ a sweet thing,
turned up with yaller, and a present too, which it isn't many of 'em
comes my way.'

"So you see, Stumps, some people have queer notions about the powers of
the telegraph."

"But did the old lady get the parcel all right?" asked Stumps, who was a
sympathetic soul.

"Of course she did, and came over to the station next day to thank me,
and offer me the bad shilling by way of reward. Of course I declined it
with many expressions of gratitude."

While they were thus adding intellectual sauce to the material feast of
breakfast, the rescued sailor awoke from his prolonged sleep, and
stretched himself.

He was a huge, thick-set man, with a benign expression of countenance,
but that phase of his character was