low_ and aloft!" exclaimed the young sailor, facing his interrogator
with a stare that was quite as expressive as his recent disgust.

"Alow and aloft!" calmly repeated the other.

"I spoke of her neatness aloft, but do not affect to judge of things below
at this distance."

"Then it was my error; but you will have pity on the ignorance of one who
is so new to the _profession_. As I have intimated, I am no more than an
unworthy barrister, in the service of his Majesty, expressly sent from
home on a particular errand. It it were not a pitiful pun, I might add, I
am not yet--judge."

"No doubt you will soon arrive at that distinction," returned the other,
"if his Majesty's ministers have any just conceptions of modest merit;
unless, indeed you should happen to be prematurely"----

The youth bit his lip, made a haughty inclination of the head, and walked
leisurely up the wharf, followed with the same appearance of deliberation,
by the two seamen who had accompanied him in his visit to the place. The
stranger in green watched the whole movement with a calm and apparently an
amused eye, tapping his boot with his whip, and seeming to reflect like
one who would willingly find means to continue the discourse.

"Hanged!" he at length uttered, as if to complete the sentence the other
had left unfinished. "It is droll enough that such a fellow should dare to
foretel so elevated a fate for _me_!"

He was evidently preparing to follow the retiring party, when he felt a
hand laid a little unceremoniously on his arm, and his step was arrested.

"One word in your ear, sir," said the attentive tailor, making a
significant sign that he had matters of importance to communicate: "A
single word, sir, since you are in the particular service of his Majesty.
Neighbour Pardon," he continued, with a dignified and patronising air,
"the sun is getting low, and you will make it late home, I fear. The girl
will give you the garment, and--God speed you! Say nothing of what you
have heard and seen, until you have word from me to that effect; for it is
seemly that two men, who have had so much experience in a war like this,
should not lack in discretion. Fare ye well, lad!--pass the good word to
the worthy farmer, your father, not forgetting a refreshing hint of
friendship to the thrifty housewife, your mother. Fare ye well, honest
youth; fare ye well!"

Homespun, having thus disposed of his admiring companion, waited, with
much elevation of m