We'd better put him ashore, boys; and mind his precious little boots don't get wet while we're about it!" It was a cruel blow, and struck home at Archer's one weak point.
Plucky and adventurous as he was, the one thing he could not endure was to be laughed at.

And his face flushed, and his lips quivered, as he heard Hall's brutal speech, and marked the smile with which, I am ashamed to say, we received it.
"I'm _not_ afraid," he exclaimed.
"Then why don't you want to go ?" He was silent for some time.

A struggle was evidently going on in his mind.

But the sneer on Hall's face determined him.
"I do want to go.

I've changed my mind!" "That's the style," said Hutton, patting him on the back.