hat in his gait, and, although it was Sunday, was trying in his
cracked falsetto voice to chant a Bacchanalian ditty assertive of the
fact that he wouldn't "go home till morning!"

But, in despite of being tipsy, he recognised us both instantly. He was
in the habit of coming constantly to and from the station to Dr
Hellyer's with parcels, and was, besides, frequently employed by the
Doctor in odd jobs about the house, consequently he was perfectly
familiar with our faces--especially mine, which he had never forgotten
since that little altercation I had with him on my first introduction.
I believe the old fellow bore me a grudge for having spoken to him so
peremptorily on that occasion, which even my present of sixpence had not
been able to obliterate.

He saw us now without doubt, as we passed by hurriedly, close to one of
the street lamps which shone down full upon us; and, alert in a moment,
he hailed us at once.

"Hullo, you young vaggybones," he screeched out with a hiccup; "where be
ye off ter now, hey?"

We made no answer to this, only quickening our pace; and he staggered
after us waveringly, wheezing out in broken accents, "I knows you,
Master Bantam, I does, and you Tom Larkyns; and I'll tell the Doctor, I
will, sure--sure--sure-ly."

But, unawed by this threat, we still went on at our jog-trot until we
were well out of his sight, when, retracing our steps again, we watched
at a safe distance to see what he would do. We were soon relieved,
however, from any anxiety of his giving the alarm, for, although he
attempted to take the turning leading down to the school, his legs,
which had only been educated up to the point of taking him home and
nowhere else after leaving the inn, must have refused to convey him in
this new direction, for we could see him presently clinging to the lamp-
post that had betrayed us, having a parley with the mutinous members--
the upshot being that he abandoned any design he might have formed of
going there and then to Dr Hellyer, postponing his statement as to what
he had seen of us, as we could make out from his muttered speech, "till
marn-ing," and mingling his determination with the refrain of the ditty
he had been previously warbling.

This was a lucky ending to what might otherwise have been a sad
mischance, if Dr Hellyer had been at once made acquainted with our
flight; so, devoutly thankful for our escape, we resumed our onward jog-
trot towards the quay, which we reache