atcher. I did not
know that there was any harm in it till Miss Warden told me, and then I
would not do it any longer, and that set all the village against me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I will stay here to-night if you will let me. I am sure they will keep up
a watch for me."

"I will sling a hammock for you," the man said. "Now we are just going to
have dinner, and I dare say you can eat something. You are the boy they
call Miss Warden's pet, are you not?"

"Yes, they call me so. She has been very kind to me, and has helped me on
with my books."

"Ah, well, a boy is sure to get disliked by his fellows when he is
cleverer with his books than they are!"

After dinner the officer said: "It is quite clear that you won't be able
to return to the village. I think I have heard that you have no father. Is
it not so?"

"Yes, he died when I was five years old. He left a little money, and John
Hammond took me in and bought a boat with that and what he had saved. I
was bound to stay with him until I was fourteen years old, but was soon
going to leave him, for he is really too old to go out any longer."

"Have you ever thought of going into the royal navy?"

"I have thought of it, sir, but I have not settled anything. I thought of
going into the merchant navy."

"Bah! I am surprised at a lad of spirit like you thinking of such a thing.
If you have learned a lot you will, if you are steady, be sure to get on
in time, and may very well become a petty officer. No lad of spirit would
take to the life of a merchantman who could enter the navy. I don't say
that some of the Indiamen are not fine ships, but you would find it very
hard to get a berth on one of them. Our lieutenant will be over here in a
day or two, and I have no doubt that if I speak to him for you he will
ship you as a boy in a fine ship."

"How long does one ship for, sir?"

"You engage for the time that the ship is in commission, at the outside
for five years; and if you find that you do not like it, at the end of
that time it is open to you to choose some other berth."

"I can enter the merchant navy then if I like?"

"Of course you could, but I don't think that you would. On a merchantman
you would be kicked and cuffed all round, whereas on a man-of-war I don't
say it would be all easy sailing, but if you were sharp and obliging
things would go smoothly enough for you."

"Well, sir, I will think it over to-night."

"Good, my boy! you are quite