“And what is your name, my man?” asked Captain Armstrong.
“Bigg, sir—Thomas Bigg,” answered the seaman.
“He seems to be an active, intelligent man. As we are short of hands, we may as well allow him to enter if he wishes it,” observed the captain to the first lieutenant.
The stranger was asked if he would enter, and expressed no objections to do so, but said he would think about it.
When I heard the name of Thomas Bigg, I looked at the man very hard, to see if I could discover any likeness between him and Tommy, for I could not help thinking that he might possibly be Tommy’s father, who was supposed to have been lost at sea. I waited till the seaman was sent forward, and then I followed him.
“I say, my man, your name is not strange to me,” said I. “Will you tell me, have you ever had a son called after yourself?”
“Why do you ask, sir?” said he, looking surprised, and yet very eager.
“Because I once had a shipmate of that name, a little fellow, who told me that his father had been so long at sea without coming home, that he was supposed to be lost,” I replied.
“Did he remember me? Did he talk about me, the poor dear little chap?” inquired the seaman, eagerly.
“Indeed he did,” I answered. “He told me how fond you were of him. He was sure that you would have come back if you could; and he, I am sure, loved you dearly, as a son should a kind father.”