"Have you got the Odour of Sanctity?" said Mr. Toby to the Churchwarden.
"Right here," said the fat man, tapping his back pocket.
"I'll carry the Chinaman's tobacco," said Toby. "We may need it." And he tucked the Chinaman's head under his arm.
In a few moments the whole party were standing on the pavement outside, and Toby locked the shop-door behind them. They crossed the street, and as they did so they heard a faint voice halloing from the top of the church tower, and they could make out
that it said, "Punch! Punch!" But Mr. Punch only sniffed and shrugged his shoulders, and made no answer.
It was very dark. The gas-lamps at the corners only made the darkness gloomier. The only sound they heard, after Mr. Punch's father's voice had died away behind them, was the stump-stump of the Old Codger's wooden leg on the brick pavement. All the dwelling-houses were closed, and as they came nearer to the wharves all the warehouses were dark and awful. Not a soul was to be seen, except that once they saw the back of a policeman as he disappeared around a dark corner in advance. At the sight of this policeman's back, and in the shadow of a great gloomy building alongside an alley, Freddie slipped his hand into the Able Seaman's big paw. He wondered if he were doing quite right in leaving home without saying a word to his mother, but Mr. Toby had promised to do whatever was necessary, and anyway, he was going aboard a ship! If he should stop to speak to his mother about going away on a voyage in a ship, he felt somehow that he might never go. He could already smell the delicious odour of tarred ropes.
Their progress was very slow, on account of Aunt Amanda's lameness. First came Mr. Mizzen, leading the way with Freddie by his side. Next came Aunt Amanda, limping with her cane, and supported on one side by Mr. Toby and on the other by Mr. Punch. Behind them walked the Churchwarden and the Sly Old Fox, and last of all Mr. Hanlon and the Old Codger with the Wooden Leg.
They could see not far before them the ghost-like masts and shrouds of ships, looking as if they were growing up from the street among the buildings; and in another moment they found themselves standing in a group on a wide wharf, piled up with bales and
boxes, and before them, against the edge of the wharf, where the black water was lapping the piles, stood a tall ship with most of her sails set. Freddie thrilled in every vein of his body. At that moment he did not think of his father or mother; he thought of nothing but the smell of brackish water and tarred ropes, and the deck of a ship on the open sea under a cloud of canvas, and the far-away Spanish Main.
The Able Seaman led the company of adventurers forward between the bales and boxes, until they stood beside the dark hull of the ship. He turned round and faced them and touched his cap respectfully.