ics recovered from their
surprise at the suddenness of these movements, two more of their number
were sprawling in the dust, and the rest stood off aghast!

"Now, then," shouted the indignant tar, as he clapped his back to the
side of the inn, "come on! the whole of 'ee. I hope yer wills is made.
What! ye're afeard, are ye? Well, if ye won't come on I'll bid ye good
afternoon, ye low minded, cowardly land-lubbers!"

And with that he made a rush at them. They tumbled over each other in
heaps, trying to get out of his way, so that he could only get a passing
dig at one or two of them, and cleared away as fast as he could run.

They did not follow him far, so Jack soon stopped and sat down on the
road-side, in a very savage state of mind, to wipe the blood from his
face and knuckles.

While he was thus engaged, an elderly gentleman in the garb of a
clergyman approached him.

"What has happened to you, my man?" he asked.

"That's none o' your business," answered Jack with angry emphasis. "Ax
no questions, an' you'll be told no lies!"

"Excuse me, friend," replied the clergyman gently, "I did not mean to
annoy you; but you seem to have been badly wounded, and I would assist
you if you will allow me."

"I ax yer parding, sir," said Jack, a little softened, though by no
means restored to his wonted good-humour; "no offence meant, but I've
been shamefully abused by the scoundrels in yonder village, an' I am
riled a bit. It's only a scratch, sir, you don't need to consarn
yerself."

"It is more than a scratch, if I may judge from the flow of blood.
Permit me to examine."

"Oh, it'll be all right d'rectly," said Jack; but as he said so he fell
back on the grass, fainting from loss of blood which flowed from a large
wound on his head.

When the sailor's senses were restored, he found himself in a bed in the
clergyman's dwelling, with his head bandaged up, and his body a good
deal weaker than he had ever before felt it. The clergyman took care of
him until he recovered; and you may be sure that he did not miss the
opportunity to urge the sailor to think of his soul, and to come to
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, whose name is Love, and whose
teaching is all summed up in this, "Do unto others as ye would that they
should do unto you."

When Jack was quite recovered, the clergyman gave him some money to
enable him to reach his home without begging his way.

Now this case also occurred _before_ the Shipw