“An’ well may ye, masters. You can both trust your lives to Harry Blew, an’ those of them as is dear to you.”
“All right, old boy!” exclaims Crozier, satisfied. “We must now part; but let’s hope we’ll meet again. When you get back to England you know where to find me. So, good-bye! Give us a grip of your honest fist, and God bless you!”
Saying this, he grasps the horny hand of the sailor, and warmly presses it. The pressure is returned by a squeeze that gives assurance of more than ordinary friendship. It is the grip of true gratitude; and the look which accompanies it tells of a devoted friendship, bordering on adoration.
Cadwallader also exchanges a like parting salutation; after which, the young officers start off, to continue their cruise through the streets of “Frisko.”
Chapter Twenty Seven.
An Inhospitable Hostelry.
Harry Blew stands in the doorway of the “Sailor’s Home,” watching the two gentlemen as they walk away, his eyes glowing with gratitude and sparkling with joy. And no wonder, considering the change in his situation brought about by their influence. Ten minutes before, his spirits were at the lowest and darkest. But the prospect of treble, or quadruple pay on board a snug ship, though it be a trading-vessel, with the additional chance of being mate instead of foremast-man, has given him a fillip, not only restoring them to their ordinary condition of cheeriness, but raising them to the highest exaltation.
The only damper is regret at parting with the fine young fellow who has done so much for him. But he has passed through that already, when separating from his ship, and can now better bear it under the reflection that, though apart from his patron, he will have an opportunity of doing something to show his gratitude. He knows how much Crozier is interested in the wellbeing of Carmen Montijo—for Harry has been made acquainted with her name, as also that of Iñez Alvarez—and to be entrusted with a sort of guardianship over these young ladies is a proud thought to the ex-man-o’-war’s man—a fine feather in his cap.