“Certainly you may,” he said. “I’m a friend of one of the consignees, and I’d be glad to show you the ship, if you like. Shall we begin with the cabins?”
Captain Elisha, delighted with the opportunity, expressed his thanks, and the tour of inspection began. The steward remained on deck, but the captain and his new acquaintance strolled through the officers’ quarters together.
“Jerushy!” exclaimed the former, as he viewed the main cabin. “Say, you could pretty nigh have a dance here, couldn’t you? A small one. This reminds me of the cabin aboard the Sea Gull, first vessel I went mate of—it’s so diff’rent. Aboard her we had to walk sittin’ down. There wa’n’t room in the cabin for more’n one to stand up at a time. But she could sail, just the same—and carry it, too. I’ve seen her off the Horn with studdin’ sails set, when craft twice her length and tonnage had everything furled above the tops’l yard. Hi hum! you mustn’t mind an old salt runnin’ on this way. I’ve been out of the pickle tub a good while, but I cal’late the brine ain’t all out of my system.”
His guide’s eyes snapped.
“I understand,” he said, laughing. “I’ve never been at sea, on a long voyage, in my life, but I can understand just how you feel. It’s in my blood, I guess. I come of a salt water line. My people were from Belfast, Maine, and every man of them went to sea.”
“Belfast, hey? They turned out some A No.1 sailors in Belfast. I sailed under a Cap’n Pearson from there once—James Pearson, his name was.”
“He was my great uncle. I was named for him. My name is James Pearson, also.”
“What?” Captain Elisha was hugely delighted. “Mr. Pearson, shake hands. I want to tell you that your Uncle Jim was a seaman of the kind you dream about, but seldom meet. I was his second mate three v’yages. My name’s Elisha Warren.”
Mr. Pearson shook hands and laughed, good-humoredly.
“Glad to meet you, Captain Warren,” he said. “And I’m glad you knew Uncle Jim. As a youngster, he was my idol. He could spin yarns that were worth listening to.”