ly
overtaken and rescued.

Stanley was none the worse for his ducking, but poor Billy was
unconscious, and had a large cut in his head, which looked serious.
When he was taken on board the tender, and restored to consciousness, he
was incapable of talking coherently. In this state he was taken back to
Ramsgate and conveyed to the hospital.

There, in a small bed, the small boy lay for many weeks, with ample
leisure to reflect upon the impropriety of coupling fun--which is
right--with mischief--which is emphatically wrong, and generally leads
to disaster. But Billy could not reflect, because he had received a
slight injury to the brain, it was supposed, which confused him much,
and induced him, as his attentive nurse said, to talk "nothing but
nonsense."

The poor boy's recently-made friends paid him all the attention they
could, but most of them had duties to attend to which called them away,
so that, ere long, with the exception of an occasional visit from Mr
Welton of the Gull light, he was left entirely to the care of the nurses
and house-surgeons, who were extremely kind to him.

Mr Morley Jones, who might have been expected to take an interest in
his _protege_, left him to his fate, after having ascertained that he
was in a somewhat critical condition, and, in any case, not likely to be
abroad again for many weeks.

There was one person, however, who found out and took an apparently deep
interest in the boy. This was a stout, hale gentleman, of middle age,
with a bald head, a stern countenance, and keen grey eyes. He came to
the hospital, apparently as a philanthropic visitor, inquired for the
boy, introduced himself as Mr Larks, and, sitting down at his bedside,
sought to ingratiate himself with the patient. At first he found the
boy in a condition which induced him to indulge chiefly in talking
nonsense, but Mr Larks appeared to be peculiarly interested in this
nonsense, especially when it had reference, as it frequently had, to a
man named Jones! After a time, when Billy became sane again, Mr Larks
pressed him to converse more freely about this Mr Jones, but with
returning health came Billy's sharp wit and caution. He began to be
more circumspect in his replies to Mr Larks, and to put questions, in
his turn, which soon induced that gentleman to discontinue his visits,
so that Billy Towler again found himself in what might with propriety
have been styled his normal condition--absolutely destitute of