Teddys Button | Page 6

you stick yourself up so. We've come to tell you to
look out for yourself if you don't stop it.'
Nancy laughed again, and swung herself violently backwards and
forwards. 'Yo ho! my lads, yo ho!' she sang. 'I'm on my ship, and I don't
care for boys a bit; they're all as stupid as they can be. Yo ho! We go!
Yo ho, lads, heave ho!'
Her elevated position certainly seemed to give her an advantage.
'We'll soon shake you off there!' shouted Sam, his wrath rising at her
calm indifference to the lords of creation.
'Come on, and try. I'm up the rigging, and a storm is beginning.
Hurray--come on!'
Sam and Carrots made a furious onslaught, and the gate was roughly
handled, but the more it shook and swung, the more derisive was
Nancy's laughter, as she clutched a firm hold with her small hands, and
swayed to and fro, calling out excitedly, 'Furl the main-sail! Stand by,
lads--steady--starboard hard! Port your helm! Rocks to leeward! Reef
the top-sail! Breakers ahead! Yo ho!'
Teddy looked on, awed by these nautical terms, which seemed to slip
so easily from her lips. To him they seemed wonderfully clever, but he
was not one to stand aside long in a scene of excitement, and with one
of his wild war whoops he rushed forward.
'On, boys! Charge! Hurrah!'
The gate rocked violently, and Nancy began to feel her position was a
perilous one. All the little people were screaming at the top of their
voices, when suddenly, in the midst of the din, appeared old Sol.
'What now! Who are these trying to break one of Her Majesty's gates
down? Be off, you young ruffians! Teddy Platt, you're at the bottom of
all the mischief brewing in the parish. I'll get my big stick out and give

you a thrashing before I've done with you.'
Old Sol's words were fierce, but the boys knew he had the softest heart
in the village, and they stood their ground. 'It's all the button-boy,' said
Nancy eagerly, as she descended from her perch, and laid her little
hand confidingly on the old man's arm. 'He brought these boys up to
fight me, but I was up the mast, and they couldn't shake me off!'
'We told you we wouldn't fight a girl,' protested Teddy indignantly;
'you don't speak the truth.'
'Well, what did you bring the boys for?' demanded the small maiden
severely.
'We came,' put in Sam boldly, 'to tell you that if you were so cheeky
you would soon get into trouble. We ain't going to stand sauce from
you.'
'What has the little lass been doing, you young scoundrels?'
'They're only boys, grandfather; let us come in to mother, and leave
them. They're the rudest boys I've ever seen, and the button-boy is the
worst, and his button isn't worth a farthing!'
There was a yell from all three boys at this.
'That's it!' cried Carrots excitedly. 'It's the button she's so cheeky about.
We ain't going to have Teddy's button laughed at. We won't stand it,
Sol--we won't!'
'It shows she don't know nothing, or she wouldn't talk so. She's just a
baby, that's what she is.'
'Why, she doesn't believe father's story is true, Sol! You know it is,
don't you?'
'She isn't as old as the button itself.'
'Ha! ha! she wasn't born when it was in battle. Much she knows about

it!'
Sol had difficulty in quieting the indignant voices.
'Lookee here, you boys, go home and leave my little lass to me; she
knows nothing about the button. I'll tell her the story, and then she
won't laugh at it any more. Ay, I remember seeing your father,
youngster. He was a brave man, he was, but he would never have made
war against little maids like this. Shame on you; get you home! Get you
gone, I say, or I'll bring my stick out.'
'She's been told the story. She listened, and she laughed. She ought to
say she's sorry.'
Teddy stood with his legs wide apart, and his hands in his pockets. His
tone was severe.
'I'll never, never, never say I'm sorry. I'm glad of what I said. I don't
believe a word of it!'
And with this parting shot Nancy ran into the cottage, and the boys
returned to the village more slowly than they came.
'Mother,' said Teddy that night, as his mother bent down for a
'good-night' kiss, 'I haven't been good to-day, and I don't feel good now.
I feel, when I think it over, so angry inside.'
'What is it about, sonny?'
'Father's button.' The tone was drowsy, and seeing his eyelids droop
heavily Mrs. John said no more, only breathed a prayer that her little
son might fight