“Well, come in here and you shall see.”
So saying, the old sailor led the way into the shop, where on his giving a few short, sharp, and curt directions to an attendant, Dick was taken in hand and twisted this way and that and measured; the whilom ragged runaway being in the end apparelled in a bran-new suit of navy serge that made him look like a smart young reefer, very different indeed to the ragged runaway who had forced his way into the railway-carriage frightening Bob and Nellie during their journey Portsmouth-wards from Guildford twenty-four hours before.
“There, what do you think of yourself now?” asked the Captain, wheeling him round in front of a cheval glass so that he could see his reflection in the mirror. “Eh, you rascal?”
Dick did not say anything; but, the look, of mingled wonder, self-satisfaction and gratitude, that overspread his speaking face more than rewarded the good-hearted sailor for his thoughtful generosity.
“He only wants his ’air cut and a pair o’ decent boots, sir, and then he’ll be a reg’ler tiptopper,” suggested the shopman. “I wouldn’t know him now for the same chap ag’in, sir!”
“Thank you, my friend, for the hint,” said the Captain politely. “You can fit him with some boots, and we’ll see about the ‘’air’ when we get outside!”
Bob, of course, went into convulsions of laughter when the Captain thus mimicked the man’s disregard of his aspirates.
The shopman’s failing in this respect was all the more amusing from the fact that the poor fellow was quite unaware of his ‘little weakness’; and, one boy’s merriment affecting the other, while the Captain joined in from sympathy, they all went out of the shop in the highest of spirits, the old sailor before leaving directing the attendant to send home another suit of clothes with a complete sailor’s kit, so that Dick might have what he called “a regular rig-out.”
Subsequently, Dick had his hair cut, after which the Captain took him into the dockyard, with the intention of his being entered for service in the Navy, the boy having expressed so strong a desire to go to sea.
However, as he was not broad enough in his chest measurements, although sufficiently tall for his age, his joining a training ship had to be postponed until our runaway had, as the old warrant officer at the depot said, “Stowed a lot more beef and bread in his skid.”