“I can send a letter by you, and that will remove all doubts, and settle the whole matter.”
“But I hoped you would feel sure enough to take passage with us. You can do better in the States than here.”
“I could not bear to go over there expecting to meet a son, and be disappointed. I’m making a very good living here.”
“I think you’d better go.”
“Well, captain, I’ve about as much as I can carry at present, and am somewhat confused. I will go about my regular business the rest of the day; that will steady my mind; and perhaps I may think of some question that this young man can answer, that will throw more light on the matter; and I will be on board again in the morning.”
Resisting all solicitations to stop to dinner, the old man departed with his load.
“I know it’s his son,” said Walter, as they were eating dinner. “I feel it in my bones, and I think we ought to persuade him to go.”
“I have not much doubt,” replied the captain. “People are always emigrating from England to St. John’s and Canada. Her relatives might have gone, and taken her with them. I shall persuade him in the morning to go, if I can.”
The second mate, who was a Marblehead man, and had listened to the conversation, now inquired, “Don’t all this crew belong right there? and wouldn’t they be likely to know more about it than Mr. Griffin? Most of them are much older than he is.”