thought it was."

He seemed to take a pleasure in seeing Hugh's face fall. Hugh always
took a rough word to heart, and he could never bear to hear his mother
mentioned by a stranger.

"It's a good enough ship for us," he answered hotly.

"How d'ye know it is?" said the man. "You know nothing at all about
it. What do _you_ know of ships, or what's good for you? Hey?
You don't know nothing of the kind."

This rather silenced Hugh; we were both a little abashed, and so we
stood sheepishly for a moment looking on the ground.

At last I took Hugh by the arm. "Let's take her somewhere else," I
said softly. I bent down and picked up the ship and turned to go.

The man watched us with a sort of amused contempt. "Where are you
going now?" he asked.

"Down the stream," I called back.

"Drop it," he said. "Come back here."

I called softly to Hugh to run. "Shan't!" I cried as we started off
together, at our best speed.

"Won't you?" he called. "Then I'll make you." He was after us in a
brace of shakes, and had us both by the collar in less than a dozen