“No, sir,” Kit answered. “He threatened to call a policeman if I didn’t go away, so I went.”
“Looks as if the shopkeeper was the thief himself,” said the Captain, smiling at Kit’s innocence. “Well, put your things back in your pockets. How old are you?”
“Sixteen, sir,” Kit answered; “nearly seventeen.”
“Ever been to sea?”
“No, sir. I know very little about the water, for a sailor’s boy. Huntington is ten miles back from the Sound, and a good many of the people there are seafaring men, but the boys don’t see much of salt water.”
“Would you like to go to sea?” the Captain asked, looking up at him suddenly.
“Yes, sir; I should like it very much indeed,” Kit answered promptly.
“Well, I haven’t taken all this trouble with you just for amusement,” the Captain went on. “I am in need of a cabin boy; and when I saw you in the hands of the policeman I rather thought that fate had sent me one without farther trouble. I never take a boy who has run away from home, and for that reason I wanted to find out about you by what you had in your pockets. And I find that you have not run away, and that you have very good references. A boy with a Bible in his pocket and a letter from his mother and sister has as good references as I want. I’m not very much of a church man myself; know more about log books than prayer books, maybe; but I like to see a boy who’s started out right. Would you like to be my cabin boy?”
“Yes, sir; I should like very much to have the place,” Kit replied.
“Then I’ll tell you what the place is, so you’ll know what you’re about,” the Captain continued. “You know what a tramp steamer is, I suppose?”