He straightened
up on the instant, as if he had received an electric shock; for the
conviction came like a flash that he had seen the face of that child
before.
But where? He might as well have asked himself what there was in such a
sweet, angelic countenance to affect him so strangely.
Ah! he had it. That was the girl that Tom had rescued from the icy water
the winter before.
Going in opposite directions, and with such speed, the steamer and
schooner were soon far apart, and the straining gaze of the lad was unable
to tell where the mother and child were seated.
The two had not even looked at him, and he could only sigh that the
glimpse was such a passing one.
"I wonder whether Tom has ever seen them since. He would be a great deal
more delighted than I."
The Simoon sailed steadily upward till the day wore by, by which time she
was a good many miles above the metropolis.
It was no more than fairly dark when Sam managed to whisper in the ear of
the boy,--
"_You mus' leab de boat to-night!_"
These were alarming words, though the lad could not understand how harm to
him was to benefit any one, unless it was that Hornblower and his
confederates were afraid of the consequences of discovery, and prefered to
act on the principle that dead boys can tell no tales.
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