He had, apparently, spent a most enjoyable evening, for he seemed in good spirits--or, rather, perhaps had a pretty good amount of spirits or beer in him--as he reeled somewhat in his gait, and, although it was Sunday, was trying in his cracked falsetto voice to chant a Bacchanalian ditty assertive of the fact that he wouldn't "go home till morning!" But, in despite of being tipsy, he recognised us both instantly.

He was in the habit of coming constantly to and from the station to Dr Hellyer's with parcels, and was, besides, frequently employed by the Doctor in odd jobs about the house, consequently he was perfectly familiar with our faces--especially mine, which he had never forgotten since that little altercation I had with him on my first introduction.
I believe the old fellow bore me a grudge for having spoken to him so peremptorily on that occasion, which even my present of sixpence had not been able to obliterate.
He saw us now without doubt, as we passed by hurriedly, close to one of the street lamps which shone down full upon us; and, alert in a moment, he hailed us at once.
"Hullo, you young vaggybones," he screeched out with a hiccup; "where be ye off ter now, hey ?" We made no answer to this, only quickening our pace; and he staggered after us waveringly, wheezing out in broken accents, "I knows you, Master Bantam, I does, and you Tom Larkyns; and I'll tell the Doctor, I will, sure--sure--sure-ly." But, unawed by this threat, we still went on at our jog-trot until we were well out of his sight, when, retracing our steps again, we watched at a safe distance to see what he would do.

We were soon relieved, however, from any anxiety of his giving the alarm, for, although he attempted to take the turning leading down to the school, his legs, which had only been educated up to the point of taking him home and nowhere else after leaving the inn, must have refused to convey him in this new direction, for we could see him presently clinging to the lamp- post that had betrayed us, having a parley with the mutinous members-- the upshot being that he abandoned any design he might have formed of going there and then to Dr Hellyer, postponing his statement as to what he had seen of us, as we could make out from his muttered speech, "till marn-ing," and mingling his determination with the refrain of the ditty he had been previously warbling.
This was a lucky ending to what might otherwise have been a sad mischance, if Dr Hellyer had been at once made acquainted with our flight; so, devoutly thankful for our escape, we resumed our onward jog- trot towards the quay, which we reached safely shortly afterwards, without further incident or accident by the way.
After being out in the open air a little while, the evening did not seem nearly so dark as we had thought when first peering out from the window of the refectory before making our final exit from the school.

Our eyes, probably, became more accustomed to the half-light; but whether or no this was the case, we managed to get down to the harbour as comfortably as if going there in broad day.
The brig which I had been on board of on many previous occasions, the _Saucy Sall_, of South Shields, was lying alongside the jetty in her old berth, with a plank leading up to the gangway; and, seeing a light in the fo'c's'le, I mounted up to her deck, telling Tom to follow me, making my way forwards towards the glimmer.
All the hands were ashore, carousing with their friends, with the exception of one man, who was reading a scrap of newspaper by the light of a sputtering dip candle stuck into a ship's lantern.

He looked rather surprised at receiving a visit from me at such a time of night; but, on my telling him the circumstances of our case, he made us both welcome.