did not long to be out with them under the red cross flag but now that peace had come and the which had swept the channel and the were in our there was less to draw one s fancy it was london now of which i thought by day and by night the huge city the home of the wise and the great from which came this constant stream of carriages and those crowds of dusty people who were for ever flashing past our window pane it was this one side of life which first presented itself to me and so as a boy i used to picture the city as a gigantic stable with a huge of which were for ever streaming off down the country roads but stone then champion told me how the fighting men there and my ther how the heads of the navy lived there and my mother how her brother and his grand were there until at last i was consumed with impatience to see this marvellous heart of england this coming of my then was the breaking of light through the darkness though i hardly dared to hope that he would take me with him into those high circles in which he lived my mother however had such confidence either in his good nature or in her own powers of persuasion that she already began to make preparations for my departure but if the of the village life my easy spirit it was a torture to the keen and ardent mind of boy jim it was but a few days after the coming of my uncle s letter that we walked over the downs together and i had a peep of the bitterness of his heart what is there for me to do he cried i a shoe and i fuller it and i it and i it and i knock five holes in it and there it is finished then i do it again and again and blow up the and feed the and a or two and there is a day s work done and every day the same as the other was it for this only do you think that i was bom into the world buck i looked at him his proud eagle face and his figure and i wondered whether in the whole land there was a finer man the army or the navy is the place for you jim said i that is very well he cried if you go into the navy as you are likely to do you go as an officer and it is you who do the ordering if i go in it is as one who was bom to receive orders an officer gets his orders fix m those above him but an officer does not have the lash over his head i saw a poor fellow at the inn here � it was some years ago � who showed us his back in the tap room all cut into red diamonds with the s whip who ordered that i asked the captain said he and what would you have had if you had struck him dead said i the yard arm he answered then if i had been you that s where i should have been said i and i spoke the truth i can t help it rod i there s something here in my heart something that is as much a part of myself as this hand is which holds me to it i know that you are as proud as said i it was bom with me and i can t help it life would be easier if i could i was stone made to be my own master and there s only one place where i can hope to be so where is that in london miss has told me of it until i feel as if i could find my way through it fi om end to end she loves to talk of it as well as i do to listen i have it all laid out in my mind and i can see where the are and how the river runs and where the king s house is and the prince s and the place where the fighting men live i could make my name known in london how never mind how rod i could do it and i will do it too wait says my uncle � wait and it will all come right for you that is what he always says and my aunt the same why should i wait what am i to wait for no i ll stay no longer eating my heart out in this little village but i ll leave my apron behind me and i u seek my in london and when i come back to s oak it will be in such style as that gentleman yonder he pointed as he spoke and there was a high crimson mail coming down the london road with two bay fashion before it the reins and were of a light colour and the gentleman had a driving coat to match with a servant in dark buck livery behind they flashed past us in a rolling cloud of dust and i had just a glimpse of the pale handsome face of the master and of the dark features of the man i should never have given them another thought had it not chanced that when the village came into view there was the mail again standing at the door of the inn and the busy taking out the horses jim i cried i believe it is my uncle i and taking to my heels i ran for home at the top of my speed at the door was standing the dark faced servant he carried a cushion upon which lay a small and you will excuse me young sir said he 