“I may say to begin with, that I always liked the water. I was born in a little village bordering Lake Winnipiseogee, and was out on the lake whenever I could get the chance, either in a rowboat or sailboat. I felt as much at home on the water as on the land. Still, I never should have gone to sea had it not been for my stepfather.”
“Then you have a stepfather?”
“Yes. My father died when I was ten, leaving my mother a little farm and a comfortable house. I was a young boy, and it is hard for a woman to carry on a farm. A man came into town, and started in some small business. He pretended that he had money, but I guess he had precious little. At any rate, he didn’t object to more. Pretty soon he fixed his eyes on our farm, and, finding that mother owned it clear, he got to coming round pretty often. I never liked him, though he pretended to be fond of me, and used to pat me on the head, and bring me candy. I wondered what made him come so often, but I didn’t mistrust anything till one day mother called me and said she had something important to say to me.
“‘Jack,’ she said, ‘what do you think of Mr. Bannock?’
“‘I don’t think much of him,’ I answered.
“‘He is to be your father, Jack. I have promised to marry him.’
“‘You may marry him,’ I answered hotly, ‘but he will be no father of mine. My father lies in the churchyard. I wish he were alive again.’
“‘So do I, Jack’ said mother, wiping her eyes, ‘but we know that can’t be.’”
“How did he treat you, Jack?” asked Harry, interested.
“He never liked me, and I didn’t like him at all He tried to impose upon me, and order me round, but he didn’t make out much. Still, he was always annoying me in mean little ways, and finally I got all I could stand, and the long and short of it is that I ran away to Portsmouth, and went on a coasting voyage. After I got back I shipped from Boston for Liverpool, and ever since I’ve kept sailing in one direction or another. This will be my longest voyage.”