I was so wrapped up in my fancy-hope that I did not notice how the room was filling nor how the noise of mingled oaths and ribald laughter of the common herd had risen to a din. I did look up soon, however, in time to notice the entrance of a seaman whose appearance was exceedingly unlike the rest. He wore rich clothes, and a jeweled sword by his side; he was tall, kindly and benevolent looking. This man—I took him for a prosperous merchant who commanded his own ship—made his way laboriously through the crowd of tables, nodding now and then to someone he knew. When he reached the farther side of the room he sat down a few chairs away from me. There was a patronizing look of contempt on his face and he turned his back squarely upon the company. The girl, perhaps, had been the first to notice him, and her face brightened at his appearance.
“Will you take me?” she asked, eagerly, as if her life depended on the answer, as she set his glass before him.
“This is no life for the like of you to lead,” replied the seaman. “Yes, I’ll take you and I’ll do the best I can to find a home fit for you and your pretty face to live in.”
At that moment a cry of “Wench, wench, I want some rum,” took the girl back to her uncongenial task behind the bar. As soon as she was gone I moved my chair nearer to the new comer.
“Will you pardon me, sir?” I began. “I have arrived from the country only to-day and am a stranger here. Can you set me on the track of a ship for America?”
“That I can very quick. I am Captain James Donaldson of the Royal Lion. She sails for New York the day after to-morrow. I can let you have a first-rate cabin and good rations to boot if you don’t eat too much. You have no idea what a swift and steady craft she is.”
“Good,” I exclaimed joyfully. “You may count upon me as a passenger.”
“Tut, tut, you are as hasty as the girl there. You have not seen the cabin yet, nor do you know my price.”
“I dare say we can arrange that to our satisfaction.”
“One can never tell,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Folk are so particular in these days; but come to me in the morning and I will show you over. I know you will like her. I must be going now. I only stopped in to speak a word with yon lass. The pretty little wench is going with me on the voyage.”