I thought probably that young master would take care to see something more of me. I liked his manner; for although there was a good deal of seeming bombast and pretension about him, I had an idea he was sterling at bottom—a plucky little chap, just as his father had been. This circumstance had in no way put aside my wish to go to sea. I kept talking about it whenever I had an opportunity.
“I see how it is,” sighed my father; “you are right, Jack. The way Tom stood up to you just now showed me that your old home is not as pleasant as it should be.”
“Then you will let me go, will you not, father?” I said.
The fact was, it was a very different thing for him to talk about letting me go, and to ship me off. He hummed and hesitated, and said he thought I had better wait till I was a year older, or till he himself was sent to sea.
“Oh, but that may not be for a long time, father; and what should I do with myself till then?” I exclaimed.
“I am not quite so sure that it will be a long time, Jack,” he answered, with a sigh.
“Once upon a time my only wish was to remain on shore, but times are changed. I don’t want to say a word against my present wife. She is a good woman; an excellent woman; but somehow or other she does not manage to keep the house as quiet as it might be; and those children of hers are terribly unlicked cubs.”
I agreed with him there. “They want to be under the management of Mrs Brigadier for a few months,” I observed; “I rather think that she would not be long in bringing them into order.”
“You are right, Jack. But I have seen her, and with all her perfections, I would not swop my present wife with her on any account.” My father gave a shudder. “Well, Jack,” he said, “there’s an old friend of mine—Sergeant Turbot—whose company has been appointed to the Roarer, fitting out for the East India Station, alongside the Topaze sheer hulk.”
“Well, father,” I said, “though I should like to go with you, yet I fancy that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;’ and, if you will let me, I’ll go with Sergeant Turbot. He will look after me and keep me out of mischief, and stand my friend, if I want one. I should not like to lose the opportunity.”