“Well, sir, there I climbs on by the buffers and coupling-chain of the guard’s van to the step of the end carriage, and works myself along till I reaches this; when, drawing myself up and looking in through the windy, I thought I would get in here, not seeing nobody but young ma–aster and little missis in the corner—”
“You didn’t see me, eh?” questioned the Captain, with one of his quizzical chuckles. “You didn’t see me, I’ll wager.”
“No, sir, or I wouldn’t have tried it on,” confessed Dick, with the most open candour. “I would a-been afeard like.”
“Lucky for you that you did, though,” said Captain Dresser, his little black beady eyes blinking away furiously. “If you had got in anywhere and not come across such a good-natured old donkey as myself, you would have had the signal-bell rung to summon the guard, who would have stopped the train and given you in custody at the next station for travelling without a ticket! But what are you going to do now, eh?”
“Please, sir, I dunno,” replied Dick, looking puzzled.
“Humph, that’s a pretty state of things for an independent young gentleman running away to sea!” said the Captain in a quizzing tone. “Do you know you’re not half out of the scrape yet? You have got into the train all right; but, how are you going to get out of it, eh—tell me that, my lad?”
“I dunno, sir,” again answered Dick laconically, still seeming unmoved by the critical nature of his position—“I dunno, sir.”
“Drat the boy!” exclaimed the Captain impatiently, stamping his foot. “There you are again with your ‘dunno!’ Why, when we arrive at Portsmouth, the collector will be asking for your ticket; what will you say then, eh?”
“I thought, sir, of jumping out afore the train got there, sir,” said Dick, scratching his head reflectively. “Aye, I did.”
“Broke your neck, probably!” growled the old Captain. “The best thing that could have happened to you, my lad.”