He followed her at a respectful distance, and then ran forward and
opened the white gate. "Good-night, Daniel," the young lady said, as
he lifted his working cap to her, showing his bright curls against the
darkening sea; "I am very much obliged to you, and I do hope I have not
said anything to vex you. I have never forgotten all you did for me, and
you must not mind the way I have of saying things."

"What a shame it does appear--what a fearful shame it is," she whispered
to herself as she hurried through the trees--"that he should be
nothing but a fisherman! He is a gentleman in everything but birth and
education; and so strong, and so brave, and so good-looking!"

CHAPTER XI

NO PROMOTION

"Do it again now, Captain Scuddy; do it again; you know you must."

"You touched the rim with your shoe, last time. You are bound to do it
clean, once more."

"No, he didn't. You are a liar; it was only the ribbon of his shoe."

"I'll punch your head if you say that again. It was his heel, and here's
the mark."

"Oh, Scuddy dear, don't notice them. You can do it fifty times running,
if you like. Nobody can run or jump like you. Do it just once more to
please me."

Kitty Fanshawe, a boy with large blue eyes and a purely gentle face,
looked up at Blyth Scudamore so faithfully that to resist him was
impossible.

"Very well, then; once more for Kitty," said the sweetest-tempered of
mankind, as he vaulted back into the tub. "But you know that I always
leave off at a dozen. Thirteen--thirteen I could never stop at. I shall
have to do fourteen at least; and it is too bad, just after dinner. Now
all of you watch whether I touch it anywhere."

A barrel almost five feet in height, and less than a yard in breadth,
stood under a clump of trees in the play-ground; and Blyth Scudamore had
made a clean leap one day, for his own satisfaction, out of it. Sharp
eyes saw him, and sharp wits were pleased, and a strong demand had
arisen that he should perform this feat perpetually. Good nerve, as well
as strong spring, and compactness of power are needed for it; and even
in this athletic age there are few who find it easy.

"Come, now," he said, as he landed lightly, with both heels together;
"one of you big fellows come and do it. You are three inches taller than
I am. And you have only got to make up your minds."

But all the big fellows hung back, or began to stimulate one another,
and to prove to each other how easy it was,