him in a mild tone of voice, "Willy, stop your crying. See, all the
passersby are looking at you. If I were a boy like you, I would be
only too happy to get out of such a tiresome old place where you just
learn and pray all day long. I am going to take you into quite a
different school, one in which all is bright and gay. On board the
ship you won't have any old exercises to do."

"Oh, but I liked everything at the College so much, and in the new
school there won't anybody know me," wailed Willy. "And you--are you
really my uncle?"

"Most assuredly. How can you doubt if? Just look at me! Have I not
the same hooked nose that your father had?"

"Yes, but you have no such friendly eye. And my father always had so
much reverence for the Father Prefect."

"While I speak to the Father Prefect only compliments in which all the
i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed most punctiliously--ha!
ha!--not so bad. But now see here: let us strike a bargain. You
recognize me as your uncle to whom you owe obedience, and everything
will be all right. If you go on in this obstinate, defiant way, you
shall, so sure as my name is John Brown, this very day make the
acquaintance of the cat-o'-nine-tails, and take a diet of bread and
water in the company of the rats in the hold of the ship for awhile."

Willy had once seen a cabin boy flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails, and
there was nothing in the world which he feared more than rats, so he
thought it best to make peace with his uncle. After a pause he said: