er ray.

"I only wish Jacob was here--that's all."

"Then you have your wish, my good old friend," cried I, running up to
Tom and seizing his hand. But old Tom was so taken by surprise that he
started back and lost his equilibrium, dragging me after him, and we
rolled on the turf together. Nor was this the only accident, for old
Mrs Beazeley was so alarmed that she also sprang from the bench fixed
in the half of the old boat stuck on end, and threw herself back against
it. The boat, rotten when first put up, and with the disadvantage of
exposure to the elements for many years, could no longer stand such
pressure. It gave way to the sudden force applied by the old woman, and
she and the boat went down together, she screaming and scuffling among
the rotten planks, which now, after so many years close intimacy, were
induced to part company. I was first on my legs, and ran to the
assistance of Mrs Beazeley, who was half smothered with dust and flakes
of dry pitch; and old Tom coming to my assistance, we put the old woman
on her legs again.

"O deary me!" cried the old woman--"O deary me! I do believe my hip is
out! Lord, Mr Jacob, how you frightened me!"

"Yes," said old Tom, shaking me warmly by the hand, "we were all taken
aback, old boat and all. What a shindy you have made, bowling us all
down like ninepins! Well, my boy, I'm glad to see you, and
notwithstanding your gear, you're Jacob Faithful still."

"I hope so," replied I; and we then adjourned to the house, where I made
them acquainted with all that had passed, and what I intended to do
relative to obtaining Tom's discharge. I then left them, promising to
return soon, and, hailing a wherry going up the river, proceeded to my
old friend the Dominie, of whose welfare, as well as Stapleton's and
Mary's, I had been already assured.

But as I passed through Putney Bridge I thought I might as well call
first upon old Stapleton; and I desired the waterman to pull in. I
hastened to Stapleton's lodgings, and went upstairs, where I found Mary
in earnest conversation with a very good-looking young man, in a
sergeant's uniform of the 93rd Regiment. Mary, who was even handsomer
than when I had left her, starting up, at first did not appear to
recognise me, then coloured up to the forehead, as she welcomed me with
a constraint I had never witnessed before. The sergeant appeared
inclined to keep his ground; but on my taking her hand and telling her
that I brou