a duck!" said the tramp, "a mile's a long way, and walking's
a dry job this ere weather."

We said we agreed with him.

"Upon my sacred," said the tramp, "if there was a pump handy I believe
I'd take a turn at it--I would indeed, so help me if I wouldn't! Though
water always upsets me and makes my 'and shaky."

We had not cared much about tramps since the adventure of the villainous
sailor-man and the Tower of Mystery, but we had the dogs on the wall
with us (Lady was awfully difficult to get up, on account of her long
deer-hound legs), and the position was a strong one, and easy to defend.
Besides, the tramp did not look like that bad sailor, nor talk like it.
And we considerably out-numbered the tramps, anyway.

Alice nudged Oswald and said something about Sir Philip Sidney and the
tramp's need being greater than his, so Oswald was obliged to go to the
hole in the top of the wall where we store provisions during sieges, and
get out the bottle of ginger-beer which he had gone without when the
others had theirs so as to drink it when he got really thirsty.

Meanwhile Alice said:

"We've got some ginger-beer; my brother's getting it. I hope you won't
mind drinking out of our glass. We can't wash it, you know--unless we
rinse it out with a little ginger-beer."

"Don't ye do it, miss," he said, eagerly; "never waste good liquor on
washing."

The glass was beside us on the wall. Oswald filled it with ginger-beer
and handed down the foaming tankard to the tramp. He had to lie on his
young stomach to do this.

The tramp was really quite polite--one of Nature's gentlemen, and a man
as well, we found out afterwards. He said:

"Here's to you!" before he drank. Then he drained the glass till the rim
rested on his nose.

"Swelp me, but I _was_ dry," he said. "Don't seem to matter much what it
is, this weather, do it? so long as it's suthink wet. Well, here's
thanking you."

"You're very welcome," said Dora; "I'm glad you liked it."

"Like it?" said he. "I don't suppose you know what it's like to have a
thirst on you. Talk of free schools and free libraries, and free baths
and wash-houses and such! Why don't some one start free _drinks_? He'd
be a 'ero, he would. I'd vote for him any day of the week and one over.
Ef yer don't objec I'll set down a bit and put on a pipe."

He sat down on the grass and began to smoke. We asked him questions
about himself, and he told us many of his secret sorrows--especially
about t