bon would be now—which he thrusts into the old man's eager and trembling hand.
Old Martin begins dipping his finger into it, and rubbing it on his toothless gums, smiling and nodding thanks to his young master; while the little maid at his knee, unrebuked, takes her share also.
"There, Admiral Leigh; both ends meet—gramfers and babies! You and I shall belike to that one day, young Samson!"
"We shall have slain a good many Philistines first, I hope."
"Amen! so be it; but look to mun! so fine a sailor as ever drank liquor; and now greedy after a bit of sweet trade! 'tis piteous like; but I bring mun a bit whenever I come, and he looks for it. He's one of my own flesh like, is old Martin. He sailed with my father Captain Will, when they was both two little cracks aboard of a trawler; and my father went up, and here I am—he didn't, and there he is. We'm up now, we Hawkinses. We may be down again some day."
"Never, I trust," said Amyas.
"'Tain't no use trusting, young man: you go and do. I do hear too much of that there from my lad. Let they ministers preach till they'm black in the face, works is the trade!" with a nudge in Amyas's ribs. "Faith can't save, nor charity nether. There, you tell with him, while I go play bowls with Drake. He'll tell you a sight of stories. You ask him about good King Hal, now, just"
And off waddled the Port Admiral.
"You have seen good King Henry, then, father?" said Amyas, interested.
The old man's eyes lighted at once, and he stopped mumbling his sugar.
"Seed mun? Iss, I reckon. I was with Captain Will when he went to meet the Frenchman there to Calais—at the Field, the Field"
"The Field of the Cloth of Gold, Gramfer," suggested the dame.
"That's it. Seed mun? Iss, fegs. Oh, he was a king! The face o' mun like a rising sun, and the back o' mun so broad as that there" (and he held out his palsied arms), "and the voice of mun! Oh, to hear mun swear if he was merry, oh, 'twas royal!—Seed mun? Iss, fegs! And I've seed mun do what few has; I've seed mun christle like any child."
"What—cry?" said Amyas. "I shouldn't have thought there was much cry in him."
"You think what you like"
"Gramfer, Gramfer, don't you be rude, now"
"Let him go on," said Amyas.
"I seed mun christle; and, oh dear, how he did put hands on mun's face; and 'Oh, my gentlemen,' says he, 'my gentlemen! Oh, my gallant men!' Them was his very wprds."
"But when?"
"Why, Captain Will had just come to the Hard—that's to
