ing the stick covered over with knobs, bade Walter come along.

Remembering, however, in the midst of his virtuous excitement, that Mrs
MacStinger might be lying in wait below, Captain Cuttle hesitated at
last, not without glancing at the window, as if he had some thoughts
of escaping by that unusual means of egress, rather than encounter his
terrible enemy. He decided, however, in favour of stratagem.

'Wal'r,' said the Captain, with a timid wink, 'go afore, my lad. Sing
out, "good-bye, Captain Cuttle," when you're in the passage, and shut
the door. Then wait at the corner of the street 'till you see me.

These directions were not issued without a previous knowledge of the
enemy's tactics, for when Walter got downstairs, Mrs MacStinger glided
out of the little back kitchen, like an avenging spirit. But not gliding
out upon the Captain, as she had expected, she merely made a further
allusion to the knocker, and glided in again.

Some five minutes elapsed before Captain Cuttle could summon courage
to attempt his escape; for Walter waited so long at the street corner,
looking back at the house, before there were any symptoms of the
hard glazed hat. At length the Captain burst out of the door with the
suddenness of an explosion, and coming towards him at a great pace, and
never once looking over his shoulder, pretended, as soon as they were
well out of the street, to whistle a tune.

'Uncle much hove down, Wal'r?' inquired the Captain, as they were
walking along.

'I am afraid so. If you had seen him this morning, you would never have
forgotten it.'

'Walk fast, Wal'r, my lad,' returned the Captain, mending his pace; 'and
walk the same all the days of your life. Overhaul the catechism for that
advice, and keep it!'

The Captain was too busy with his own thoughts of Solomon Gills, mingled
perhaps with some reflections on his late escape from Mrs MacStinger, to
offer any further quotations on the way for Walter's moral improvement
They interchanged no other word until they arrived at old Sol's door,
where the unfortunate wooden Midshipman, with his instrument at his eye,
seemed to be surveying the whole horizon in search of some friend to
help him out of his difficulty.

'Gills!' said the Captain, hurrying into the back parlour, and taking
him by the hand quite tenderly. 'Lay your head well to the wind, and
we'll fight through it. All you've got to do,' said the Captain, with
the solemnity of a man who was deliveri