"Well, go if you must," said the landlady, "where are you bound to?"
"Yes," said Jack, "what is your next port, sonny?"
"I shall consider. Have you a Bradshaw, Katie?"
He opened the book at random, at the place where it tells one of steamers that sail away to every part of the known world. It opened at Southampton.
He closed his eyes now fast and hard, and stuck a pin into one of the pages. It struck the West Indies.
Even Jack, old sailor though he was, was taken aback at the boy's boldness.
"I shall go there!" he said. "My dear and charming Katie," he added heroically, "Any spot on earth is a home for the brave."
CHAPTER IV
IN SEARCH OF A SHIP
That same day Keppel Drummond bade his friends of the Blue Ensign goodbye.