“Once he liked me, and was kind to me.”
“Jan!”
“Yes, my friend.”
“We are now going straight to Margate. I am promised office, and shall probably be a busy public man soon. It is time also that you buckled down to your work. We have had our holiday and grown strong in it—every way strong. What next?”
“Thou speak first.”
“Well, you see, Jan, men must work if they would be rich, or even respectable. What work have you thought of?”
“Only of the sea. She is my father and my mother and my inheritance. Working on land, I am as much out of place as a fish out of water.”
“I think you are right. Will you join the Merchant Service, or do you think better of the Royal Navy? I have a great deal of influence with the Admiralty Lords, and I have often wished I could be a ‘blue jacket’ myself.”
“Above all things, I would like the Royal Navy.”
“Then you shall be a ‘blue jacket;’ that is 182 quite settled and well settled, I am sure. But every moment will take time, and it will probably be winter before I can get you a post on any squadron likely to see active service. During the interval I will leave ‘The Lapwing’ in your care, and you must employ the time in studying the technical part of your profession. I know an old captain in Margate who will teach you all he knows, and that is all that any of them know.”