replied Tommy. "It don't call for
much courage to jump into a boat of a fine night, twist your legs round
a thort, and hold on to a girl by claws and teeth till somebody comes to
yer help."

It was all very well for Tommy to disclaim credit for what he had done;
but the glad triumphant expression of his face, and his firm erect gait,
proved that he was very much satisfied indeed with the share he had had
in that night's adventure.

"Ah, sir," continued the boy, "there never was a man like Bax!"

"You appear to admire him very much," said Guy; "and from the little
that I have seen of him I think you have good reason."

"Admire him!" cried Tommy, with a look of scorn; "no, I don't. I _like_
him. He's a trump!"

"Who's a trump?" inquired Bluenose, coming up at that moment.

"Bax," replied the boy, with the air of one who takes up an impregnable
position, and defies the whole world in arms to overthrow him.

"So he is, so he is, a reg'lar trump," said the Captain, "an' wot's
more, there ain't no more of them there trumps in the pack, for he's the
king of 'arts, he is. An' you're a trump, too, Tommy; you're the
_knave_ of 'arts, you are, ye little beggar. Go and git blankets and
hot coffee for that gal, and look sharp, my lad."

"I have heard you speak once or twice of Bax and his exploits," said Guy
Foster, when the boy left them, "but this is the first time I have seen
him perform. I did not see much of him when down on the coast last
summer, but I saw enough to make me like him. Is he really the
wonderful fellow that Tommy makes him out to be?"

"Wonderful?" echoed the Captain, puffing his pipe vigorously, as was his
wont when a little puzzled for an expression or an idea. "No, he ain't
wonderful; that's not the word. He's a _life-preserver_, that's wot he
is. None o' your hinflated injinrubber or cork affairs, but a reg'lar,
hanimated, walkin', self-actin' life-preserver. Why, I've know'd him,
off and on, since he was the length of a marline spike, d'ye see--an'
I've seed him save dozens, ay _dozens_, of lives--men, women, and
children,--in lifeboats, an' in luggers, an' swimmin'. Why, he thinks
no more o' that wot he's done to-night, than he does of eatin' salt
junk. He's got a silver medal from the Royal Life-Boat Institution, an'
another from the Queen of Spain, and a gold 'un from some other king or
queen, I don't 'xactly know who--besides no end o' thanks, written on
paper, also on wot they ca