“Rat—tat—tat—tat.”
“Come in. Ah, Tom, there you are! Glad you’ve come a little before dinner is served. Well, we’re all ready for sea, I suppose?”
“Yes; as soon as you like to-morrow morning, sir.”
“Well, dowse the ‘sir,’ Tom, else I’ll send you away without a morsel of dinner. We’re not on the quarter-deck now, you know. You’re Tom, and I’m just Jack.”
A few minutes afterwards, Tom, strolling carelessly towards Jack’s writing-table, picked up a sheet of paper, and to his astonishment read as follows:—
“Missus missed thee, so do I,
Drop the tear and sigh the sigh;
Yet ne’er let sorrow cloud thy brow—
She loved thee once, she loves thee now.”
“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed Tom aloud.
Jack got as red as a tomato, and rushed to rescue the manuscript.
“Put it down at once, Tom! How dare you?”
But Tom only laughed the more. He read Jack’s inspiration from end to end, in spite of all that Jack could do.