As his young friend read and talked with him he shed tears of repentance, and begged John to take him away from the scene of dissipation and wretchedness into which he had brought himself.
As soon as he was able to bear it, John and Antonio carried him to the skiff, and thus brought him on board the ‘Sally.’ The sea breezes restored him in a few days, and then John took him to his mother, that by her good nursing his cure might be completed.
Edward returned to his parents, much wiser and better than when he left his home. Neither he nor his family ever forgot the kindness of John. He called him his deliverer; and every year a handsome present was sent to the family in token of gratitude.
CHAPTER IX.
‘GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU.’
I HAVE mentioned that it was John’s great desire to own the schooner in which he had passed so much of his time. He loved every plank in the ‘Sally,’ and had hoped that, by the time he was twenty-five, he would be able to buy out the owner.
But though he had laid by every penny that he could spare, he found that he had not half the amount which was required; and what made him feel more discouraged, Captain Morgan wished to sell the vessel immediately, as he intended to retire.
John might have made money much faster if he would have worked on the Sabbath, as he saw many do who were in the same business, without any scruples. But he knew that the blessing of God would never rest on those who broke His commandment; and he valued that blessing more than gold and silver. He felt disappointed, but tried to be submissive to the will of God, and to go on in the discharge of his duty. ‘I have been happy here,’ he thought; ‘but if God’s blessing be with me, if I live near to my Saviour, I will be happy wherever I am placed.’ Then, as he noticed the lighter scudding gracefully before the wind, he sighed and said, ‘I shall be grieved to part with my pretty boat.’
His mind was filled with such thoughts as he lay-to, by the side of a ship which had just arrived, laden with passengers and goods.