ables, which groaned under
the glittering accessories of an approaching feast. Fair ladies were
among the assembling company, and busy gentlemen, who acted the part of
stewards, hurried to and fro, giving directions and keeping order. A
large portion of the company consisted of men whose hard hands, powerful
frames, and bronzed faces, proclaimed them the sons of toil, and whose
manly tones and holiday garments smacked of gales and salt water.

"What be goin' on here, measter?" inquired a country fellow, nudging Mr
Queeker with his elbow.

Queeker looked at his questioner in surprise, and told him that it was a
supper which was about to be given to the lifeboat-men by the people of
the town.

"An' who be the lifeboat-men, measter?"

"`Shades of the mighty dead;' not to mention the glorious living!"
exclaimed Queeker, aghast; "have you never heard of the noble fellows
who man the lifeboats all round the coasts of this great country, and
save hundreds of lives every year? Have you not read of their daring
exploits in the newspapers? Have you never heard of the famous Ramsgate
lifeboat?"

"Well, now 'ee mention it, I doos remember summat about loifboats,"
replied the country fellow, after pondering a moment or two; "but, bless
'ee, I never read nothin' about 'em, not bein' able to read; an' as I've
lived all my loif fur inland, an' on'y comed here to-day, it ain't to be
thow't as I knows much about yer Ramsgate loifboats. Be there mony
loifboat men in Ramsgate, measter?"

"My good fellow," said Queeker, taking the man by the sleeve, and gazing
at him with a look of earnest pity, "there are dozens of 'em. Splendid
fellows, who have saved hundreds of men, women, and children from the
raging deep; and they are all to be assembled in this hall to-night, to
the number of nearly a hundred--for there are to be present not only the
men who now constitute the crew of the Ramsgate boat, but all the men
who have formed part of her crew in time past. Every man among them is
a hero," continued Queeker, warming as he went on, and shaking the
country fellow's arm in his earnestness, "and every man to-night will--"

He stopped short abruptly, for at that moment a carriage drove up to the
door, and a gentleman jumping out assisted a lady to alight.

Without a word of explanation to the astonished country fellow, Queeker
thrust him aside, dashed forward, presented himself before the lady,
and, holding out his hand, exclaimed-