father's trap and take Rupert out for drives, and Mrs. Johnson used
to put meat pies and strawberries in a basket under the seat, so that
it was a kind of picnic, for the old horse had belonged to Mr.
Bustard, and was a capital one for standing still.

It was partly because of the Johnsons being so kind to Rupert that
Johnson Minor and I became chums at school, and partly because the
fight had made us friendly, and I had no Rupert now, and was rather
jealous of his taking completely to Henrietta, and most of all, I
fancy, because Johnson Minor was determined to be friends with me. He
was a very odd fellow. There was nothing he liked so much as wonderful
stories about people, and I never heard such wonderful stories as he
told himself. When we became friends he told me that he had never
meant to bully me when he asked about my father; he really did want to
hear about his battles and so forth.

But the utmost I could tell him about my father was nothing to the
tales he told me about his grandfather, the navy captain.




CHAPTER V.

THE NAVY CAPTAIN--SEVEN PARROTS IN A FUCHSIA TREE--THE HARBOUR LION
AND THE SILVER CHAIN--THE LEGLESS GIANTS--DOWN BELOW--JOHNSON'S WHARF.


The Johnsons were very fond of their father, he was such a good, kind
man; but I think they would have been glad if he had had a profession