No; in that grave face lurked no laughter. The old man had said the thing that he believed in simplest faith. And what a face it was! nobly large, worn as the earth, and as full of quiet dignity. Pale, too, but not with the pallor of ill-health. Indeed the old man looked hard and wholesome as a forest tree. Rather the boy was reminded of a cathedral seen in February sunshine. The great upper lip was bare and stiff as clay. The wide mouth curled up at the corners, as though it often smiled. Friendly eyes, the colour of forget-me-nots, dwelt on the boy. A stiff white fringe framed all. And the note of the whole was calm--calm invincible. Then the boy's eyes fell on those blue bags thrusting out over the edge of the chair. A question leapt to his lips. It was out before he could stop it. "Dud--dud--does it hurt?" The old man's face broke up and shone. He chuckled. A saint could laugh, then! the boy felt himself relieved. "No, sir, thank you, ne'er a bit. And not nigh as much at the time as you might fancy--a tidy jar like to be sure.... One thing, I don't suffer from no bunions." He went off again into his deep chuckle; and again the boy felt comfort at heart. The saint could joke! "Tell him about it, Piper," said the Parson; "you and Nelson." "Why, sir," said the old man, frank as a child, "the Captain were standin by my gun in the waist, where he'd no business to ha been reelly by rights. Flop I goes on the broad o my back, when it took me. He was down on his knees beside me in a second, dabbin with his little handkercher. 'Don't kneel in that, sir,' says I, 'your white breeches and all.' 'Ah, dear fellow!' says he, taking my hand, 'dear fellow! dear fellow!...' Then they carried me off to the cock-pit." That was the whole story, but it was so simply told that the boy saw and felt it all. "Yes, sir. There warn't a man aboard the _Agamemnon_ but'd ha died for Captain Nelson and proud too." He put the spy-glass to his eye to hide the fact that he was blinking. "She's had a rare mauling, surely. I'd just like to know her story." "Here's the young gentleman can tell you, Piper," chimed in the Parson. There was a faint glow in the hollow of the old man's cheeks as he listened to the boy's tale, and he was rubbing his huge hands together slowly. "Seems the powder's laid, but the match lies yet in the pocket of this here Gentleman," he said, as Kit concluded. "One thing's clear, sir! We want that boat!... Now if so be I might make so bold, if you and the young gentleman'd take the glass, and step across to the Wish there, you could see all along the shore past Cow Gap to the Head, and make out what they're up to." "That's a good notion for a sailor!" cried the Parson briskly. "Come on, Kit." "And I'll make my course for the cottage and see all's snug there," said the old man. "You never know what's comin next in this world. It's the wise man as is ready for the worst." He trundled himself across the grass.