Mr. Greatorex was loud in praise of Martin for the large share he had had in saving the goods. He offered to take him as a regular apprentice, but learning that Martin had a passion for the sea, he agreed to place him on a King’s ship, and promised to take charge of Lucy. And being in want of a gardener for his country house, he asked Gollop whether he would like to exchange his constable’s staff for a spade.
“Well, sir, I take it kind of you,” said Dick. “I don’t mind if I do. I knows nothing about gardening, but then I knowed nothing about the law till I took up with it, and as a man of law I reckon I’ve a pretty good name in London town. I’ll do my best, and if I ain’t very good at it just at first, well, what I can’t help, you'll make the best of, I’ll be bound.”
It only remained to dispose of Gundra. Susan Gollop undertook to give him a home until Martin should sail on his first voyage to the East. Some two years later Martin had the pleasure of restoring the boy to his own family in Surat.
Slocum and his confederates were not destined to be hanged after all. It was discovered one day that they had broken prison, and they were never captured. Years afterwards, when Martin was a captain in the King’s Navy, he was accosted one day in Portsmouth by a wretched-looking beggar, who suddenly stopped in the midst of his whining plea for help and slunk off rapidly round the first corner.
“I could swear that was Slocum,” Martin said to himself. “I suppose he recognised me and was afraid I should give him up to justice. How it all comes back to me—that night of the Fire!”
The End
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Mis-spelled words and printer errors have been corrected or standardised.
Inconsistency in accents has been corrected or standardised.
Illustrations have been relocated due to using a non-page layout.