like a waif thrown on the shores of life, unclaimed, unlocked for. Thus
did I feel among that busy crowd who now pressed to the deck, gathering
together their luggage, and preparing for departure. Some home awaited
each of these,--some hearth, some happy faces to greet their coming. But
I had none of these. This was a sorrowful thought; and as I brooded
over it, my head sank upon my knees, and I saw nothing of what was going
forward about me.

"Tom," whispered a low voice in my ear,--"Master Tom, don't delay, my
dear; let us slip out here. The soldiers want me to go with them to
their billets, and I have promised; but I don't mean to do it."

I looked up. It was Darby, buttoned up in his coat, his pipes unfastened
for the convenience of carriage.

"Slip out after me at the lock here; it 's so dark we 'll never be
seen."

Keeping my eye on him, I elbowed my way through the crowded deck, and
sprang out just as the boat began her forward movement.

"Here we are, all safe!" said Darby, patting me on the shoulder. "And
now that I 've time to ask you, did you get your dinner, my child?"

"Oh yes; the captain brought me something to eat."

"Come, that's right, anyhow. Glory be to God! I ate heartily of some
bacon and greens; though the blackguards--bad luck to them for the
same!--made me eat an orange lily whole, afraid the _greens_, as they
said, might injure me."

"I wonder. Darby," said I, "that you haven't more firmness than to
change this way at every moment."

"Firmness, is it? Faix, it's firm enough I'd be, and Stiff, too, if I
did n't. Sure it 's the only way now at all. Wait, my honey, till the
time comes round for ourselves, and faix, you 'll never accuse me of
coorting their favor; but now, at this moment, you perceive, we must do
it to learn their plans. What do you think I got to-night? I learned all
the signs the yeos have when they 're drinking together, and what they
say at each sign. Thers 's a way they have of gripping the two little
fingers together that I'll not forget soon."

For some time we walked on at a rapid pace, without exchanging more than
an occasional word. At last we entered a narrow, ill-lighted street,
which led from the canal harbor to one of the larger and wider
thoroughfares.

"I almost forget the way here," said Darby, stopping and looking about
him.

At last, unable to solve the difficulty, he leaned over the half-door
of a shop, and called out to a man within, "Can you t