ned.

"But lookye here, messmates, what's a leg or two? Gone in the sarvice
o' the King and country, I says. Here am I, two-and-thirty, with
ninepence a day as long as I live, as good a man as ever I was--good man
and true. Who says I arn't?"

"Nobody here, Tom, old mate," cried the big fisherman, giving the sailor
a hearty slap on the shoulder. "Good mate and true, and as good a
neighbour as we've got in Rockabie. Eh, lads?"

"Ay, ay!" came in a hearty chorus.

"There, Tom, so say all of us; but none o' that about no press-gangs,
mate," cried the big fisherman. "The King wants men for his ships, but
all on us here has our wives and weans. What was all right for a lad o'
twenty would be all wrong for such as we."

"Ay, that's true," said the sailor, "and I oughtn't to ha' said it; but
look at Master Aleck here. Them boys--"

"Yes, yes, boys is boys, and allus was and allus will be, as long as
there's land and sea. Some on 'em'll get a touch o' rope's-end after
this game, I dessay. Lookye here, Master Aleck Donne, you come up to my
place, and the missus'll find you a tin bowl o' water, a bit o' soap,
and a clean towel. You won't hurt after a wash, but be able to go home
as proud as a tom rooster. You licked your man, and the captain'll feel
proud of you, for Big Jem was too much of a hard nut for such a chap as
you. Come on, my lad."

"No, no, thank you," said Aleck, warmly; "I want to get back home now.
I don't want to show Mrs Joney a face like this."

"Nay, my lad, she won't mind; and--"

"Tom Bodger's going to sail my boat home," put in the boy, hastily, "and
I shall hang over the side and bathe my face as I go. I say, all of
you, I'm sorry I got into this bit of trouble, but it wasn't my fault."

"Course it wasn't," said the fisherman. "We all know that, and you've
give some on 'em a lesson, my lad. Well, if you won't come, my lad, you
won't."

"It's only because I want to get back home," said Aleck, warmly. "It's
very kind of you all the same."

A few minutes later the boy was seated in the stern of the boat, while
Tom Bodger stood up, looking as if he, too, were sitting, as he thrust
the little craft along by means of the boat-hook and the pier walls,
while the fishermen walked along level with them to the end, where half
a dozen of the boys had gathered.

"Give him a cheer, lads," said the big fisherman, and a hearty
valediction was given and responded to by Aleck, who took off an