"You ran away from home."
"Yes, sir, but I won't run back, till I've seen the world and done something. My mind is made up."
"You are fifteen?"
"Nigh on it."
"You are of good birth. I believe you, your manners are quite a model. Will you tell us your real name?"
"I promise to do so, I will do so sine dubio, sed sine die.[1] When you left, sir," he continued, "I just stuck a pin in a page of Bradshaw's Guide, and it struck the West Indies. And thither I went. So you see. I came into the merchant service ad aperturam libri."
[1] Without a doubt, but without appointing a day.
"Through the hawse-hole. Eh?"
"That is it, sir. And here I am as willing as ever to make myself useful."
"But you are leaving a good thing. What do they pay you at the Variety Hall?"