Kidnap and beaten

THE QUEE

ig

at, and before the sun began to peep or the last of the stars had vanished, I made my way to the side of the burn, and had a plunge in a dee

ion. But I was young and spirited, and like most lads that have been country-bred, I had a great opinion of my shrewdness. I had come to his door no better than a begg

ssendean, they say, had made a mirror in which men could read the future; it must have been of other stuff than burning coal; for in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and ga

ave me good-morning civilly; and I gave the same to him, smiling down upon him, from the hei

o understand each other," I continued. "You took me for a country Johnnie Raw, with no more mother-wit or courage than a porridge-stick. I took you fo

ed me he would make all clear as soon as we had breakfasted. I saw by his face that he had no lie ready for me, though he

me steps of the sea-hornpipe (which I had never before heard of far less seen), snapping his fingers in the air and footing it right cleverly. For all that, he was

e?" says he, wit

oberly to nam

says he; and th

delight, of a

ason of t

business at all, I will even be

e thrashed? I've brought a letter from old Heasyoasy to Mr. Belflower." He sho

he house, and you shall have

tween whiles, and making many faces, which I think the poor soul considered manly. Meanwhile, my uncle had read the letter and sat t

he, and put the

ying before m

nn, at the Q

as the wind will serve us well out of the firth. I will not seek to deny that I have had crosses with your doer,* Mr. Rankeillor; of which, if not speedily redd

yon lad, I could see the captain at the Hawes, or maybe on board the Covenant if there was papers to be signed; and so far from a loss of time, we can jog on to the lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor's. After a' that's c

will

believed I could force on the visit to the lawyer, even if my uncle were now insincere in proposing it; and, perhaps, in the bottom of my heart, I wished a nearer view of the sea and ships. You are to remember I had lived a

ys I, "let us g

n old rusty cutlass on; and then we trod the fire

month of June; the grass was all white with daisies, and the trees with blossom; but, to judge by o

ld not say how old he was, as he had lost his reckoning. He showed me tattoo marks, baring his breast in the teeth of the wind and in spite of my remonstrances, for I thought it was enough to kill him; he swore horribly whenever he remembered, but more like a silly schoolboy than

id, would "crack on all sail into the day of judgment;" rough, fierce, unscrupulous, and brutal; and all this my poor cabin-boy had taught himself to admire as something seamanlike and manly. He would only admit one flaw in his idol. "He ain't no seaman," he admitted. "That's Mr. Shua

savage usage at his hands? Why, y

wed me a great case-knife, which he told me was stolen. "O," says he, "let me see him try; I dare

that half-witted creature, and it began to come over me that the brig Cov

no friends

er in some English se

n, too," he said,

ed I, "can you find no

ery sly, "they would put me to a trade.

-the-mud boys. "And then it's not all as bad as that," says he; "there's worse off than me: there's the twenty-pounders. O, laws! you should see them taking on. Why, I've seen a man as old as you, I dessay"-(to him I seemed old)-"ah, and he had a beard, too-well, and as soon as we cleared out of the river, and he had the drug out of his head-my! how he cried and carried on! I made a fine fool of him, I tell you! And then

ent ferry going north, and turns the upper reach into a landlocked haven for all manner of ships. Right in the midst of the narrows lies an islet with some ruins; on the south shore they have built a pier fo

Ransome told me, was the brig's boat waiting for the captain; and about half a mile off, and all alone in the anchorage, he showed me the Covenant herself. There was a sea-going bustle on board; yards were swinging into place; and as the wind blew from that

cross the road and addressed my uncle. "I think it right to tell you, s

rom a dream. "Eh?" h

him ove

But what are we standing here for? It's perishing cold; an