"I'll start now," I answered, and walked out of the room. And as soon as I was out of the house I raced at full speed to where I thought I had heard the whistle. But though I searched for an hour or more, whistling odd snatches of melody which I knew my father would recognize if he were near, yet I saw no one, except indeed one immense fellow swinging up the shadowy road towards Rancey Bridge. But he was too huge to have been my father. I watched him pass on into the night; and then I thought I heard the whistling begin again. I listened, but it was merely the stranger who had just passed me. I felt a sinking of heart, for I thought I had been tricked by a mischievous spirit. I walked back slowly to the great dark house, feeling lonely and miserable; for though I knew the Captain was fond of me, yet I never felt safe in his presence; and Jenny was stupidly unreasonable, blaming me for defending myself against a madman. I knew now that I wanted my father; for the sudden hope of seeing him again had been cruelly dashed, and my heart was left bleeding as though from a wound. I crept upstairs to my room, a little chamber next to Jenny's which had been fitted up for me, intending to sleep till the first of the morning, and then to steal away from that accursed house and make tracks for the _Dolphin_. But Jenny had heard me return; and I heard my door opened, and her voice whispering to me through the dark, for I hadn't lit my candle: "Tommy, did you find him?" "No," I said. "But you will find him?" "Yes." "Promise?" "Yes, I promise." I thought she had gone, but she had glided silently up to me where I lay on my bed still dressed; and I felt her lips pressed passionately to mine, murmuring, "There, I don't hate you, Tommy." I was in no mood for kissing. Indeed these sudden whims of quarrelling and caressing, unaccountable hate melting into unaccountable tenderness, baffled me. It was perplexing; it savoured of madness. It seemed to me that the Captain's blood ran very freely in Jenny's veins. I was bewildered by her moods and transformations, and began to wish for the fresher atmosphere of my father's companionship. I merely said, "Very well," and turned on my side. She left me, and I thought I heard a faint whimper. What now, I wondered. But the handle turned and the latch clicked; she had gone.