‘Then, I dare say I can find him something to do,’ said Captain Fife; ‘that is, I mean, if he has no friends out here to help him.’
‘I’m sure it is very kind of you,’ said Wal. ‘I don’t know who or what he is, at present; but he’s been brought up a cut above me, I guess.’
‘That may be,’ said Captain Fife, smiling; ‘but if he turns out as good a man as Wal Jessop, his father will have reason to be proud of him.’
Wal Jessop’s honest face shone with pleasure at this remark, and he said:
‘If I can be of any use to him, he’s welcome to all I know about Australia.’
‘And that is more than most of us,’ said Captain Fife. ‘He is in good hands, at any rate. Bring him here as soon as you can.’
Wal Jessop made the best of his way home. He avoided the busy shipping quarters, but was waylaid by several of his acquaintances, who knew he could tell them more about the wreck than anyone. The pressmen were also on his track, and, in order to quiet them, Wal Jessop gave them a short account of what had occurred.
‘It’s not all I know,’ he said at the conclusion of his remarks; ‘but it is quite enough for you chaps with vivid imaginations to work upon. I reckon, when I read the accounts, they’ll be equal to anything that could have been strung together on the spot. Some of you have fathered stirring yarns on to me before now. Give me a rest this time, and I’ll forgive you.’
‘We can’t let you off so easily, Wal,’ said one pressman. ‘If I don’t get your photo for my paper I shall have to find another shop to work in.’
‘You’ll get no photo from me,’ said Wal. ‘I’m not a particularly good-looking man, but I draw the line at those outrages in your paper, Billy.’