right not to decide in a hurry. It is a
serious thing for a young chap to make a choice like that; but it seems to
me that, being without friends as you are, and having made enemies of all
the people of your village, it would be better for you to get out of it as
soon as possible."

"I quite see that; and really I think I could not do better than pass a
few years on a man-of-war, for after that I should be fit for any work I
might find to do."

"Well, sleep upon it, lad."

Will sat down on the low wall in front of the station and thought it over.
After all, it seemed to him that it would be better to be on a fine ship
and have a chance of fighting with the French than to sail in a
merchantman. At the end of five years he would be twenty, and could pass
as a mate if he chose, or settle on land. He would have liked to consult
Miss Warden, but this was out of the question. He knew the men who had
pursued him well enough to be sure that his life would not be safe if they
caught him. He might make his way out of the station at night, but even
that was doubtful. Besides, if he were to do so he had no one to go to at
Scarborough; he had not a penny in his pocket, and would find it
impossible to maintain himself until Miss Warden returned. He did not wish
to appear before her as a beggar. He was still thinking when a shadow fell
across him, and, looking up, he saw his friend Tom.

"I have come round to see you, Will," he said. "I don't know what is to be
done. Nothing will convince the village that you did not betray them."

"The thing is too absurd," Will said angrily. "I never spoke to a
coast-guardsman in my life till to-day, except, perhaps, in passing, and
then I would do no more than make a remark about the weather. Besides, no
one in the village has spoken to me for a month, so how could I tell that
the lugger was coming in that night?"

"Well, I really don't think it would be safe for you to go back."

"I am not going back. I have not quite settled what I shall do, but
certainly I don't intend to return to the village."

"Then what are you going to do, Will?"

"I don't know exactly, but I have half decided to ship as a boy on one of
the king's ships."

"I should like to go with you wherever you go, but I should like more than
anything to do that."

"It is a serious business, you know; you would have to make up your mind
to be kicked and cuffed."

"I get that at home," Tom said; "it can't be harder for me a