to get rid of him at once, and he accordingly ordered
him from the shop, tore up his indenture before his eyes, and bade
him never let him see his face again. For the first few hours Jack was
delighted at his freedom. He spent the day down on the wharves talking
to the fishermen and sailors. There were no foreign bound ships in
the port, and he had no wish to ship on board a coaster; he therefore
resolved to wait until a vessel sailing for foreign ports should leave.

He had no money; but a few hours after he left the shop Mrs. Anthony's
maid found him on the wharf, and gave him a letter from her mistress. In
this was inclosed a sum of money sufficient to last him for some time,
and an assurance that she did not share her husband's anger against him.

"I have no doubt, my dear Jack," she said, "that in time I could heal
the breach and could arrange for you to come back again, but I think
perhaps it is better as it is. You would never make a clothier, and I
don't think you would ever become Mayor of Southampton. I know what your
wishes are, and I think that you had better follow them out. Alice is
heartbroken over the affair, but I assure her that it will all turn out
for the best. I cannot ask you to come up to the house; but whenever you
have settled on anything leave a note with Dorothy for me, and I will
come down with Alice to see you and say goodby to you. I will see that
you do not go without a proper outfit."

It was to deliver this letter that Jack had gone up to the back
gate; and seeing Alice in the garden they had naturally fallen into
conversation at the gate, when the mayor, looking out from the window of
his warehouse, happened to see them, and went out in the greatest wrath
to put a stop to the conversation.

Jack had indeed found a ship; she had come in from Holland with cloth
and other merchandise, and was after she was discharged to sail for
the colonies with English goods. She would not leave the port for some
weeks; but he had seen the captain, who had agreed to take him as ship's
boy. Had the mayor been aware that his late apprentice was on the point
of leaving he would not have interfered with his intention; but as he
had peremptorily ordered that his name was not to be mentioned before
him, and as Mrs. Anthony had no motive in approaching the forbidden
subject, the mayor remained in ignorance that Jack was about to depart
on a distant voyage.

One day, on going down to the town hail, he found