Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/414

 is, I 've just heard of the whereabouts of John Shanks—Stumps, you know—my old mate, that I 've told you bolted with all our treasure from Bombay. Ah! mother, if I 'd only brought that treasure home wi' me, it 's a lady you 'd have bin to-day. I had all sorts o' plans for you—a coach an' six was—"

"Never mind your plans, Jim, but tell me about poor Stumps."

"Well, mother, a tramp came past here, an' had a bit of a talk wi' me yesterday. You know I ginerally have a bit of a chat wi' tramps now, ever since that city missionary—God bless him—pulled me up at the docks, an' began talkin' to me about my soul. Well, that tramp came here early this mornin', sayin' he 'd bin in a poor woman's house in the city, where there was a man dyin' in a corner. While he was talkin' with some o' the people there he chanced to mention my name, an' observed that the dyin' man got excited when he heard it, and called to the tramp and asked him about me, and then begged him, for love and for money, which he offered him, to come and fetch me to him as fast as he could, sayin' that his name was Stumps, and he knew me. So, you see, as the next train is the first that—you needn't look at the clock so often, old lady; it 's full ten minutes yet, and I 'll back my legs to do it in three."