Without any formality, he at once responded to the call.
“When a very small boy,” began he, “I was what is called a gutter urchin, or ‘mud lark,’ about the streets and docks of Liverpool. It was not exactly the business for which I had been intended. When very young, I had been bound apprentice to a trade I did not much like, and to a master I liked still less. In fact, I hated the master so much, as to run away both from him and his trade; and became a ragged wanderer in the streets.
“The profits of this profession were not so great, as to allow me to contract habits of idleness, though, somehow or other, I managed to live by it for nearly a year.
“I was one day overhauling some rubbish, that had been thrown into a gutter, when a man ran against me; and his feet becoming entangled in the rags that composed my costume, he was tripped up, and fell into the mud.
“He immediately got to his feet again; and shook me, until he was so exhausted and agitated, that he could do so no longer.
“While he was doing so, I was not idle. With my nails, teeth, and feet, I scratched, bit, and kicked him—with all the energy passion could produce.
“My desperate resistance, instead of further provoking, seemed to make a favourable impression on the mind of the man: for, as soon as he had ceased shaking me, he declared that I was ‘a noble little wretch,’ a ‘courageous little vagrant,’ and many other pet expressions equally conflicting.
“Then taking me by the hand, he led me along by his side, at the same time questioning me about my home and parents.
“Having satisfied himself, that he had as good a right to me as anybody—and perhaps a better by my being in his possession—he continued to drag me onward, all the while muttering to himself, ‘Dirty little vagabond! give him in charge to the police. Spirited boy! give him in charge of my steward.’
“Favourably impressed with the general expression of his features, I offered no resistance to his taking me where he liked. The fact is, I did not care what became of me, for I was independent of either fortune or circumstances.