"'I know I can trust you,' he ses; 'I can see it by your face."

"'Wot 'ave you run away from 'ome for?' I ses. 'Have they been
ill-treating of you?'

"'Ill-treating me?' he ses, with a laugh. 'Not much. Why, I expect my
father is running about all over the place offering rewards for me. He
wouldn't lose me for a thousand pounds.'

"I pricked up my ears at that; I don't deny it. Anybody would. Besides,
I knew it would be doing him a kindness to hand 'im back to 'is father.
And then I did a bit o' thinking to see 'ow it was to be done.

"'Sit down,' I ses, putting three or four ledgers on the floor behind one
of the desks. 'Sit down, and let's talk it over.'

"We talked away for ever so long, but, do all I would, I couldn't
persuade 'im. His 'ead was stuffed full of coral islands and smugglers
and pirates and foreign ports. He said 'e wanted to see the world, and
flying-fish.

"'I love the blue billers,' he ses; 'the heaving blue billers is wot I
want.'

"I tried to explain to 'im who would be doing the heaving, but 'e
wouldn't listen to me. He sat on them ledgers like a little wooden
image, looking up at me and shaking his 'ead, and when I told 'im of
storms and shipwrecks he just smacked 'is lips and his blue eyes shone
with joy. Arter a time I saw it was no good trying to persuade 'im, and