He recognized me in an instant, and gripping me by the shoulder he exclaimed:
"Avast there, Master Hammond, what brings you here?"
"I've run away from home. Don't betray me, Henry," I replied; "I want to go with Captain Miles, and I'm afraid he'll not take me."
"Say 'Enery an' I'll answer to my name," said the seaman reprovingly. "Why, if so be you wants to go to sea, why shouldn't you? Why shouldn't you, I wants to know?"
"Perchance Captain Jeremy will not see eye to eye with me in that matter; though, once we are fairly out at sea----"
"'Nough said, young maäster. Sink me if I don't do my best, for you were as true as steel to us when we were shut up in that hole in Brockenhurst Heath. Come on, and look sharp about it."
So saying, he led the way to a dirty, disreputable inn situated in a narrow street leading off the quay. Here he spoke a few words to a ferrety, blear-eyed man, handing tankards of spirits to the crowd of seafaring men who thronged there in spite of the time of day.
"Up aloft," said the man, jerking his thumb in the direction of a rough ladder that led to a room above.
[Illustration: I DESCENDED HAND OVER HAND]