2
III. GOING HOME 208 IX. KIDNAPPED 228 X. THE NOBLE DEED 250 XI. LORD ARDEN 275 XII. THE END 300
Illustrations
"EDRED OBEYED, AND THE MOULDIESTWARP LEANED TOWARDS HIM AND SPOKE IN HIS EAR" Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
"'GIMME,' SAID DICKIE--'GIMME A PENN'ORTH O' THAT THERE'" 6
"'IT IS A MOONFLOWER, OF COURSE,' HE SAID" 12
"'HERE, HUMPHREYS, PUT THESE IN A JUG OF WATER TILL I GO HOME'" 16
"HE LAY FACE DOWNWARD ON THE ROAD AND TURNED UP HIS BOOT" 24
"'IT ONLY PAWNS FOR A SHILLIN',' SAID DICKIE" 38
"THREE OR FOUR FACES LOOKED DOWN AT DICKIE" 70
"HE MADE, WITH TRIPLE LINES OF SILVERY SEEDS, A SIX-POINTED STAR" 80
"''TIS THE PICTURE,' HE SAID PROUDLY, 'OF MY OLD SHIP, "THE GOLDEN VENTURE"'" 98
"THE GALLEY WAS DECKED WITH FRESH FLOWERS" 102
"'AN' I OFF'S WITH ME COAT, AND FLOPS IT DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PUDDLE, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GAL'" 134
"'OH, WHAT A LONG TIME SINCE I HAVE SEEN THEE!' DICKIE CRIED" 148
"IT HURT, BUT DICKIE LIKED IT" 158
"'ELFRIDA!' SAID BOTH BOYS AT ONCE" 272
"'I HAVE KILLED A MAN,' HE SAID" 290
"'I'VE THOUGHT OF NOTHING ELSE FOR A MONTH,' SAID DICKIE" 304
HARDING'S LUCK
CHAPTER I
TINKLER AND THE MOONFLOWER
DICKIE lived at New Cross. At least the address was New Cross, but really the house where he lived was one of a row of horrid little houses built on the slope where once green fields ran down the hill to the river, and the old houses of the Deptford merchants stood stately in their pleasant gardens and fruitful orchards. All those good fields and happy gardens are built over now. It is as though some wicked giant had taken a big brush full of yellow ochre paint, and another full of mud color, and had painted out the green in streaks of dull yellow and filthy brown; and the brown is the roads and the yellow is the houses. Miles and mi