Will saw that the four men who were coming along were among the roughest in the village, and started off immediately at full speed. With oaths and shouts the men pursued him. The coast-guard station was two miles away, and he reached it fifty yards in front of them. The men stopped, shouting: “You are safe there, but as soon as you leave it we will have you.”
“What is the matter, lad?” the sub-officer in charge of the station said.
“Those men say that I betrayed them, but you know ’tis false, sir.”
“Certainly I do. I know you well by sight, and believe that you are a good young fellow. I have always heard you well spoken of. What makes them think that?”
“It is because I would not agree to go on acting as watcher. I did not know that there was any harm in it till Miss Warden told me, and then I would not do it any longer, and that set all the village against me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I will stay here to-night if you will let me. I am sure they will keep up a watch for me.”
“I will sling a hammock for you,” the man said. “Now we are just going to have dinner, and I dare say you can eat something. You are the boy they call Miss Warden’s pet, are you not?”
“Yes, they call me so. She has been very kind to me, and has helped me on with my books.”
“Ah, well, a boy is sure to get disliked by his fellows when he is cleverer with his books than they are!”