or two, had seemed so bright on that very spot where he stood. Could it be that this (oh, how little he had ever dreamed of it)--that this was to be the conclusion of his schooldays? Yes, in those rooms, of which the windows fronted him, there they lay, all his school-fellows--Montagu, and Wildney, and Duncan, and all whom he cared for best. And there was Mr Rose's light still burning in the library window; and he was leaving the school and those who had been with him there so long, in the dark night, by stealth, penniless, and broken-hearted, with the shameful character of a thief. Suddenly Mr Rose's light moved, and fearing discovery or interception, he roused himself from the bitter reverie and fled to Starhaven through the darkness. There was still a light in the little sailors' tavern, and, entering, he asked the woman who kept it, "if she knew of any ship which was going to sail next morning?" "Why, your'n is, bean't it, Maister Davey?" she asked, turning to a rough-looking sailor who sat smoking in the bar. "Ees," grunted the man. "Will you take me on board?" said Eric. "You be a runaway, I'm thinking?" "Never mind. I'll come as cabin-boy--anything." The sailor glanced at his striking appearance and neat dress. "Hardly in the cabin-boy line, I should say." "Will you take me?" said Eric. "You'll find me strong and willing enough." "Well--if the skipper don't say no. Come along." They went down to a boat, and "Maister Davey" rowed to a schooner in the harbour, and took Eric on board. "There," he said, "you may sleep there for to-night," and he pointed to a great heap of sailcloth beside the mast. Weary to death, Eric flung himself down, and slept deep and sound till the morning, on board the _Stormy Petrel_. VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWELVE. THE "STORMY PETREL." They hadna sailed a league, a league, A league but barely three, When the lift grew dark, and the wind grew high, And gurly grew the sea. _Sir Patrick Spens_. "Hilloa!" exclaimed the skipper with a sudden start, next morning, as he saw Eric's recumbent figure on the ratlin stuff, "who be this young varmint?" "Oh, I brought him aboord last night," said Davey; "he wanted to be cabin-boy." "Precious like un _he_ looks. Never mind, we've got him and we'll use him."