"'I'm an Englishman anyway and not a blanky traitor!' I roared. 'Here's something to remember me by!' and I snatched the pistol out o my tail-pocket, and snapped it at him. "The ball went through the full of his shirt. "'Ah,' says he, mighty nasty, 'I'll drop a return card on you one o' these days, Mr. Clergyman. And don't you forget it.' "Then the lord stood up and waved. "'Thank you for a very pleasant afternoon, Mr. Joy,' he called. 'May I say _au revoir?_' "'The same to you, my lord,' I answered. 'And the sooner the better.' "And that's the last I saw of him.... And now what I want to know is _where is he?_--for I'm after him." CHAPTER XXXIV THE FACE ON THE WALL "It's a long story," said Kit. The Parson took him by the arm, and led the way into the kitchen. It was more like a guard-room than a parlour. Clearly no woman reigned here. All was wood, or stone, or steel, clean as a ship, and as comfortless. Arms on the wall; iron-barred windows; no carpets, no curtains, no fal-lals. The only soft thing in the room was the bed in the corner, piled high with clothes; the only ornament a print above the chimney-piece. "It looks more like a fort than a kitchen," whispered Kit, awed. "Ah, thereby hangs a tale!" replied the Parson. He drew up before the face on the wall. "You know who that is?" he asked, one hand on the boy's shoulder. Kit laughed. It was the face that had hung in old Ding-dong's cabin, that was hanging at that hour in thousands of English homes. "A Colonel of Marines," continued the Parson--"Nelson by name." [Footnote: In 1795 Nelson was appointed Honorary Colonel of Marines in recognition of his services in the Mediterranean.] "Indeed," said the boy ironically. "I'd a notion he was a sailor." The other made no answer. Indeed he did not hear. He stood before the print, worshipping it. "Every night and morning I say my prayers before that picture," he continued quietly, all the laughter out of his voice. And there was something profoundly stirring about the solemnity with which he added, "If it's God's will that our country shall be saved, there is the man will save it!" The boy looked up at him. "Sir," he said, "Nelson will save the country, if we can save Nelson." IV THE GARRISON CHAPTER XXXV THE SOLDIER'S MOTHER Kit told his tale. The Parson listened without a word, his hands folded, and face inscrutable. His silence chilled the boy. "D'you believe me, sir?" he flashed out at last. "Believe the boy!" cried the Parson fiercely. "Why, I _saw_ the fight. I was dancing mad at the foot of the cliff. Great heavens, sir!--didn't you hear me holloa? I should have thought they'd have heard me in France. Why, for the first and last time in my life, I wanted to be a sailor myself!" Kit finished with a free heart, withholding nothing: the death of Black Diamond; the fight with the privateers; the end of old Ding- dong; and the scene with the Gentleman on the cliff.