CHAPTER XLIV.
THOMAS RETURNS TO LONDON.
After this Thomas made rapid progress in the favor of Captain Smith. He had looked upon him as a landlubber before, with the contempt of his profession; but when he saw that, clerk as he was, he was yet capable at sea, he began to respect him. And as Thomas wakened up more and more to an interest in what was going on around him, he did not indulge in giving him fool's answers to the questions he asked, as so many sea-farers would have been ready to do; and he soon found that Thomas's education, though it was by no means a first-rate one, enabled him to ask more questions with regard to the laws of wind and water and the combination of forces than he was quite able to solve. Before they reached the end of the voyage, Thomas knew the rigging pretty well, and could make himself useful on board. Anxious to ingratiate himself with the captain—longing almost unconsciously for the support of some human approbation, the more that he had none to give himself—he laid himself out to please him. Having a tolerably steady head, he soon found himself able to bear a hand in taking in a reef in the foretop-sail, and he could steer by the course with tolerable steadiness. The sailors were a not unsociable set of men, and as he presumed upon nothing, they too gave him what help they could, not without letting off a few jokes at his expense, in the laughter following on which he did his best to join. The captain soon began to order him about like the rest, which was the best kindness he could have shown him; and Thomas's obedience was more than prompt—it was as pleasant as possible. He had on his part some information to give the captain; and their meals in the cabin together were often merry enough.
"Do you think you could ever make a sailor of me?" asked Tom, one day.
"Not a doubt of it, my boy," the captain answered. "A few voyages more, and you'll go aloft like a monkey."
"Where do you think of making your next voyage, sir?" asked Tom.
"Well, I'm part owner of the brig, and can do pretty much as I like. I did think of Dundee."
"I should have thought they have coal enough of their own thereabouts."
"A cargo of English coal never comes amiss. It's better than theirs by a long way."
"Would you take me with you?"