Comethup tumbled out of the carriage, almost before it had stopped, and ran back to the captain. The captain saw the boy flying down the road toward him; tried to salute in the old stiff fashion, but changed in a moment, and caught the little figure in his arms and held him tightly. For a moment neither could speak; and then the captain, as if ashamed of showing any emotion, thrust the boy gently away, cleared his throat, and spoke quickly. "Thought I'd missed you, Comethup. Make a man of yourself, so that I'll be proud of you. And--and write to me; tell me all you do. There's your aunt waving from the carriage. Good-bye." Comethup hurried back to the carriage, turning his head once, as he ran, to see the captain standing stiffly at the garden gate shading his eyes and looking after him. The boy got into the carriage, and the horses started again. "Well, now I hope you're satisfied," exclaimed Miss Carlaw. "Just understand I don't stop for anything else--not a minute. We sha'n't get to Deal this time next week if I have to keep dropping you on the road to embrace all the inhabitants." As the carriage turned out of the town Comethup, looking out of the window, saw two figures moving slowly along a road across the end of which they drove. Their faces were toward him, although they were not looking at him; he saw that it was his cousin Brian and 'Linda. The boy's arm was thrown round the girl's shoulders, and he seemed to be explaining something to her about some flowers or grasses he held as they strolled along. Comethup gazed wistfully at them, but, remembering his aunt's words, he was silent, and the carriage soon left them out of sight. The last spire of the old town, the last red roof, had disappeared, and only the flat country lay on either side of the broad road. And so Comethup Willis left the things he knew behind him. CHAPTER XI. AND BECOMES A PERSONAGE. The strange pair travelled in state. Comethup had been given such a sum of money by his aunt that the mere handling of the yellow and white coins in his pocket almost sufficed to take his breath away. The old lady was so jealous that the boy's sovereignty should begin at once that she left the paying of porters and the purchase of first-class railway tickets entirely to him, merely telling him the amounts he was to pay, and being careful, in every instance, that the necessary homage in return for the coin was exacted from the man to whom it was given.