“He couldn’t do it, sir. No one would ever be as good to me as are the members of this crew, and, what’s better than all the rest, I can earn my own way here—everybody says I do.”
“Then you’ve quite made up your mind not to leave the station?”
“Oh, sir; I’ll have to leave if the men decide that I must, but neither Fluff nor I will go to Andrew Foster.”
“Then where do you count on going?”
“That’s what we don’t know, sir. I was coming in first to ask you where we might find a place to work for enough to pay our way.”
“Would you like to hear what your uncle has to say regarding the matter?”
“It won’t make any difference to us, sir; we won’t go to him.”
“What I mean is, would you like to hear the letter read which I have just received from him?”
“Does he say I’ve got to go where he lives?”
“Listen while I read, bearing in mind that I wrote the day after leaving the station, explaining how you were situated, and asking if he believed it was best to take you from those who were willing to assume all charge. The letter has just been received, and you shall hear it: ‘I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th, and it pleases me to learn that my nephew, for I have no doubt as to his being my brother’s son, has found such good friends. I am not really in a position to give a young boy that care which he should have, and would never have written asking that he be sent on, but that I deemed it my duty. I am an old man, living alone with servants, and of such a disposition that even my only brother could not agree with me. If the boy is comfortable and happy, and I can be assured the life savers will give him proper care, he shall receive from me the sum of two hundred dollars each year in quarterly payments, dependent only upon his writing me a truthful account of his situation at least once every twelve months, but not oftener. In case you are willing to burden yourself with the transaction of the business, I shall be glad to leave everything in your hands, agreeing to do in the premises whatever you may believe to be right, providing I am not called upon for more than I have stated herein.’ That is the letter, Benny, exactly as he wrote it, and I have read every word.”