d I tell you, John Deane, you
are fortunate in getting clear of him. When he first met you, he wished
to get you to join his gang, thinking that you would be ready enough to
do so from the way in which you were engaged. He would have invited
Smedley and the others, but he saw at a glance that they were not lads
to suit him, and so he kept his eye upon you. When he saw that you were
not likely to be drawn in for that sort of work, he found employment for
you in Sir John Fenwick's plot, and if it had not been for that, I can
tell you that Mr Strelley and Will Brinsmead would never have seen the
cattle he had undertaken to send south. As it was, it answered his
purpose to send them safe. You were thus still further deceived about
him. He was employed, as you know, by Squire Harwood and other Jacobite
gentlemen--not that he cared for one side more than the other, and if
King William's party had paid him better, he would have served them just
as willingly. I say this because it's the truth, which you wish me to
tell you; and I forgive him for all the harm he did me, for it was he
who first led me away from an honest course when I was a mere lad, and
tempted me to take to smuggling, and in the end to turn pirate and
land-robber. I am thankful that I at last got free of him. If it was
not for my wife and child in my quiet little cottage in the north, I
would not complain of dying now, shot down for my brave king and
country. But when I think of them, it's hard and bitter to go out of
the world, and leave them to suffer the neglect and poverty which too
likely will be their lot!"

The speaker's voice grew fainter and fainter as he went on with his
narrative, till Jack could with difficulty hear what he said.

"I promise you, Ned, I will act the part of an honest shipmate, and try
and find out those you love, and look after them. Besides, you know,
your widow will be entitled to a pension, and I will put down her
address and write to her as soon as we get into port, that she may apply
for it."

"Ah, that's a comfort; are you sure you are right, Jack?"

"I have heard several of the men talking about it, and I'm confident I
am not wrong," answered Deane. "The wives of seamen killed in action
are always provided for, and a proper thing it should be so. It's one
of the reasons, I have an idea, that our brave fellows fight so well.
God looks after the fatherless and widows, and as long as our country
professes to be