The Two Shipmates

e happiest young fellow alive next Monday--though I am wonderfully happy for that matter at present,"--and jumping up he kissed granny's hand and thanked her again and again for the gift she had bestowed on him, and then he ran back to Jessie's side.

At that instant there came several thundering blows on the door from a heavy cudgel, and a gruff voice cried out, "Open in the King's name;" while another was heard to say, in a lower tone, "Go round to the back and look out that he does not escape by that way."

CHAPTER TWO.

When Dick Bracewell entered the tavern, he intended merely to take a glass of liquor, just to show his independence, and then to follow his friend. He, however, found a shipmate, Tom Joyce, in the bar, who easily persuaded him to take a second, followed, naturally, by a third; and then, his spirits raised, he was induced to accompany his companion to a dancing hall attached to a public-house in one of the ba