"I must hit harder next time evidently," observed Saltash, with a squeeze of the narrow shoulders. "No, sir--no, sir! There shan't be--a next time!" Toby assured him with nervous vehemence. "I only did it just to see--just to see--I'll never do it again, sir." "Just to see what?" asked Saltash curiously. But again Toby could not explain himself, and he did not press him. "Well, you didn't do it at all well," he remarked. "I shouldn't certainly make a profession of it if I were you. It's plainly not your _métier_." He paused, but with the air of having something more to say. Toby waited silently. It came with a jerk and a grimace, as if some inner force compelled. "I can't talk pi-jaw--on this subject or any other. You see--I'm a rotter myself." "You, sir!" Toby lifted his head suddenly and stared at him with eyes that blazed passionately blue in the starlight. "Don't believe it!" he said. "It isn't true." Saltash grinned a little. His face had the dreary look of something lost that a monkey's sometimes wears. "You needn't believe it, son, if you don't want to," he said. "But it's true all the same. That's why I gave you that licking, see? Just to emphasize the difference between us." "It isn't true!" Toby asserted again almost fiercely. "I'd kill anyone else that said so." "Oh, you needn't do that!" said Saltash, with kindly derision. "Thanks all the same, my turkey-cock! If I ever need your protection I'll be sure to ask for it." He flicked the young face with his finger. "But you're not to follow my example, mind. You've got to run straight. You're young enough to make it worth while, and--I'll see you have a chance." "But you'll keep me with you, sir," said Toby swiftly. "You'll keep me--always--with you!" "Ah!" Saltash's brows twisted oddly for a second. He seemed to ponder the matter. "I can't say off-hand what I'm going to do with you," he said. "You're--a bit of a problem, you know, Toby." "Yes, sir. I know. I know." Toby's voice was quick with agitation. "But you won't send me away from you! Promise you won't send me away!" "Can't promise anything," said Saltash. "Look here! I think there's been enough of this. You'd better go to bed." But Toby was clinging fast to his hand. He spoke between quivering lips. "Please, sir, you said you'd bought me body and soul. You can't mean to chuck me away--after that! Please, sir, I'll do anything--anything under the sun--for you. And you--you can kick me--do anything to me--and I'll never say a word. I'm just yours--for as long as I live. Please, sir--please, sir--don't send me away! I--I'd rather die than that." He laid his head suddenly down upon the hand he held so tenaciously and began to sob, fighting desperately to stifle all sound. Saltash sat for a few moments in utter silence and immobility. Then, abruptly, in a tense whisper, he spoke: "Toby, you little fool, stop it--stop it, do you hear?--and go below!"