of His soldiers now.'

'Has Jesus any sailors?'

The question was put suddenly, and the answer was given with a slight air
of superiority, 'No only soldiers He has.'

'Then I don't want to belong to Him. I believe He has sailors just as
well as soldiers, only you're not telling true.'

Her tone was getting wrathful, but Teddy shook his head solemnly. 'I'm
sure there's nothing about Jesus' sailors in the Bible; but I'll ask
mother, and then I'll tell you. I must go home now. Good-bye. We're
going to be friends?'

'Yes, we're going to be friends,' she repeated; and then away they
scampered in different directions, Nancy calling out, like a true little
woman, 'But I shan't really love you till you give me your button.'

CHAPTER V

First Victories

'Please, sir, may I speak to you?'

Mr. Upton was coming out of church after a choir practice, when Teddy
accosted him.

He smiled when he saw the boy. 'You may walk home with me and speak to me
as much as you like.'

And so they sauntered up the shady lane, the old rector with his head
bent and his hands crossed behind him, and the boy all eager excitement
and motion, with suppressed importance in his tone.

'I want you to give me a name for my enemy, please, sir.'

Mr. Upton looked amused. 'Have you had any battles with him yet?'

'I think I had one yesterday. May I tell you? Granny was very angry with
me because I had made Uncle Jake's best handkerchief into a banner of
love. I didn't really think it was naughty. I wrote "Love" in ink right
across it; and I took such pains, for I wanted to show it to Nancy. And
when I got home granny was so angry that she took me by the collar and
she locked me into the back kitchen; and mother was out, and I cried, I
was so miserable. Granny said I would come to the workhouse; she called
me the wickedest, mischievousest boy she'd ever seen, and said she would
like to give me a good whipping. And at last I got tired of being
miserable, and I looked about, and I saw the window was partly open, so I
climbed up, and then I thought I would jump out and run away across the
fields till mother came home. And I was very happy then, and I jumped
right out, and then I remembered, but I didn't want to go back again.'

'And then the fight began?' suggested the rector, as the boy paused.

Teddy nodded. 'I asked God to drive my enemy away, but I was an awful
long time thinking it out. Is thinking fighting?'

'Very often it is.'