“Ned, do you think it is the beef makes the man?”
“Not altogether; but I think there must be more beef than I’ve got.”
“That is a fault that will be daily mending: see how much you’ve done since you left home; you have obtained a very good knowledge of navigation.”
“I shouldn’t have done so much, if I had not been wounded. I have had lots of time to study since I have been getting better; so there’s some good come out of it. That’s just what mother’s always saying—every thing is for the best. I wonder if she’d been here the night I was hit, if she would have thought that was for the best.”
“I’ll warrant she’ll think it is all for the best, Ned, when you get home safe and sound.”
“That she will, when she gets me in that old bed again, prays with me and kisses me. Ain’t I a great baby, Walter?”
“Not a bit of it, Ned; you’re just right.”
“I wish I was good, Wal, just to please my mother, it’s all she thinks about.”
“I wish I was, just to please Charlie Bell; at any rate, we’ll do the best we can.”