d safely shortly afterwards,
without further incident or accident by the way.

After being out in the open air a little while, the evening did not seem
nearly so dark as we had thought when first peering out from the window
of the refectory before making our final exit from the school. Our
eyes, probably, became more accustomed to the half-light; but whether or
no this was the case, we managed to get down to the harbour as
comfortably as if going there in broad day.

The brig which I had been on board of on many previous occasions, the
_Saucy Sall_, of South Shields, was lying alongside the jetty in her old
berth, with a plank leading up to the gangway; and, seeing a light in
the fo'c's'le, I mounted up to her deck, telling Tom to follow me,
making my way forwards towards the glimmer.

All the hands were ashore, carousing with their friends, with the
exception of one man, who was reading a scrap of newspaper by the light
of a sputtering dip candle stuck into a ship's lantern. He looked
rather surprised at receiving a visit from me at such a time of night;
but, on my telling him the circumstances of our case, he made us both
welcome. Not only this, he brought out some scraps of bread and meat
which he had stored up in a mess-tin, most likely for his breakfast,
urging on us to "fire away," as we were heartily free to it, and
regretting that was all he had with which to satisfy our hunger.

This man's name was Jorrocks, and he was the first seafaring
acquaintance I had made when I had timidly crept down to the quay two
years before during the summer vacation; thus, we were now old friends,
so to speak. He told us, after we had polished the mess-tin clean, that
the brig was going to sail in the morning, for Newcastle, with the tide,
which would "make," he thought, soon after sunrise.

"Why, that'll be the very thing for us," I exclaimed. "Nothing can be
better!"

But Jorrocks shook his head.

"I don't know how the skipper'd like it," he said doubtingly.

"Oh, bother him," interposed Tom; "can't you hide us somewhere till the
vessel gets out to sea; and then, he'll have to put up with our presence
whether he likes it or not?"

"What, hide you down below, my kiddies!" said the man, laughing. "Why,
he'll larrup the life out of you with a rope's-end when he finds you
aboard. I tell you what, he a'most murdered the last stowaway we had
coming out of Shields two years ago!"

"Never mind that," I put in here; "w