,' she
ended, with a whimper, for she was maudlin with drink.

'Take us to that boy at once!' commanded Philip Price; for the
captain's agitation unmanned him for the moment.

The wretched woman, awed by Philip's tone, complied. Perhaps, also,
she obeyed, half in fear of the policeman, who had stepped up to join
the gentlemen, and half in hope of getting more silver to spend on more
drink.

Before half an hour was over Alick Carnegy was found. It was a
terrible shock to the captain to recognise his boy in the squalid,
dirty, delirious sufferer tossing wearily on a heap of sacks, on the
grimy floor of an attic at the top of an evil-smelling, dilapidated
house, to which the crone stumblingly conducted them.

'Merciful powers!' he groaned in dismayed horror.

'Hush!' enjoined Philip. 'Be as calm as you can. I believe the poor
little chap is off his head; but, if there's a gleam of consciousness,
it would send him over the precipice again to witness your agitation.'

There was small fear of the captain doing any further mischief; he was
stunned into helplessness, and stood mute, trying to force himself to
believe that the huddled heap of squalid misery was his very own
son--smart, manly-looking Alick Carnegy. Though the captain was thus
helpless, Philip Price seemed to know exactly what to do, and how to do
it.

Getting the address of a doctor, he rushed off, in the first place, to
fetch him. Then a bedstead and clean bedding were hired in. In an
hour or two more the grimy room was swept and tidied as far as
possible; the window propped up to stay open; the hapless, dirty
sufferer cleansed and made straight; and beside his bed sat a
gentle-faced, trained nurse, whose wholesome presence seemed to
transform the room.

'Now, captain,' cheerily said Philip, who looked another man in the
excitement, 'you are going to take a bit of advice from me, I hope.
You will go straight back to Brattlesby by the night train. Your
invalid at home must not be forgotten; anxiety is not the best sort of
tonic for her. And I mean to remain here with your boy.'

'God bless you, Price!' The old sailor's voice trembled as he wrung
Philip's hand. 'I never knew it was in you! Man, how one can be
deceived! I thought your head was in the clouds, and that you didn't
know your right hand from your left, practically speaking. Yes, yes!
I'll run down to-night, and to-morrow I can return. I can trust my boy
to you. Let nothing be