He smiled again. “And you don’t feel queer?”
“No, not a bit of it,” I replied. “But I say, captain, I thought I was to come as a midshipman, and mess with the other young gentlemen on board.”
He now fairly laughed outright; and looking at me for some time, answered, “We have no young gentlemen on board here. You’ll get your breakfast in good time; but you are of the right sort, leddie, and little Clem shall show you what you have got to do,” pointing as he spoke to a boy who just then came on deck, and whom I took to be his son.
“Thank you, captain,” I observed; “I shall be glad of Clem’s instruction, as I suppose he knows more about the matter than I do.”
“Clem can hand, reef, and steer as well as any one, as far as his strength goes,” said the captain, looking approvingly at him.
“I’ll set to work as soon as he likes, then,” I observed. “But I wish those fellows would be sharp about breakfast, for I am desperately hungry.”
“Well, go into the cabin, and Clem will give you a hunch of bread to stay your appetite.”
I followed Clem below. “Here, Brooke, some butter will improve it,” he said, spreading a thick slice of bread. “And so you don’t seem to be seasick, like most fellows. Well, I am glad of that. My father will like you all the better for it, and soon make a sailor of you, if you wish to learn.”
I told Clem that was just what I wanted, and that I should look to him to teach me my duties.
“I’ll do my best,” he said. “Take my advice and dip your hands in the tar bucket without delay, and don’t shirk anything the mate puts you to. My father is pretty gruff now and then, but old Growl is a regular rough one. He does not say much to me, but you will have to look out for squalls. Come, we had better go on deck, or old Growl will think that I have been putting you up to mischief. He will soon pick a quarrel with you, to see how you bear it.”