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This touched Young Jerry on a tender place; who adjured his

mother to perform her first duty, and, whatever else she did or

neglected, above all things to lay especial stress on the

discharge of that maternal function so affectingly and delicately

indicated by his other parent.

Thus the evening wore away with the Cruncher family, until Young

Jerry was ordered to bed, and his mother, laid under similar

injunctions, obeyed them. Mr. Cruncher beguiled the earlier

watches of the night with solitary pipes, and did not start upon

his excursion until nearly one o'clock. Towards that small and

ghostly hour, he rose up from his chair, took a key out of his

pocket, opened a locked cupboard, and brought forth a sack, a

crowbar of convenient size, a rope and chain, and other fishing

tackle of that nature. Disposing these articles about him in

skilful manner, he bestowed a parting defiance on Mrs. Cruncher,

extinguished the light, and went out.