“That isn’t satisfactory.”
“I thought you’d say so; but listen, and I will tell you how the matter stands. First, I suppose you would like to know how I have been employed for the last twenty odd years.”
“You may tell or not, just as you like. I feel no particular interest in the matter.”
“I have followed the sea,—I see you are surprised; but this is the way it happened. Twenty-five years since, I found myself high and dry in New York, with no resources, and nobody to look to for help. In my distress I fell in with a sailor, who treated me kindly, and proposed to me to adopt his profession. It was not particularly to my taste, and I knew it was rather late in life to begin; but I had no other resource, and I allowed myself to be persuaded. I had a hard time of it at first, as you may suppose, but after a while I became acquainted with my duties, and turned out a very fair sailor. Being possessed of a better education than belongs to the generality of seamen, I found myself able to rise. On the second voyage, I shipped third mate. Then I rose to second mate; finally to first mate. I might have become captain if I had been a little more steady, but a fondness for drink stood in the way of my advancement.”
“So you have been a sailor for twenty-five years.”
“Yes.”
“It was no doubt the best thing you could do. You don’t think of giving it up?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t see what I can do for you.”
“I’ve a chance to sail as mate next week in the ship Sea Eagle bound for China.”