to perch that often--and back again over and over again, till he hasn't
got a bit of spirit in him. I'm just the same--it's boots and knives
and plate and coal-scuttles and answer the bells, till I get tired of a
night and lie abed asking myself whether a strong chap like me was meant
to go on all his life cleaning boots and knives; and if I was, what's
the good of it all? I'm sick of it, Master Jack, and there's been times
when I've been ready to go and 'list for a soldier, only I don't believe
that would be much better. The toggery's right enough, and you have a
sword or a gun, but it's mostly standing in a row and being shouted at
by sergeants. But now there's a chance of going about and seeing what
the world's like, and its works, and how it goes round, and you say you
don't want to go. Why, it caps me, it do, sir, really."

"Yes," cried Jack angrily; "and it `caps me,' as you call it, to hear a
good servant like you talk about giving up a comfortable place and want
to go on a long and dangerous voyage. Are you not well fed and clothed
and paid, and have you not a good bed?"

"Yes, sir; yes sir; yes, sir," cried Edward; "but a man don't want to be
always comfortable, and well fed, and to sleep on a feather bed. He's a
poor sort of a chap who does. I don't think much of him. It's like
being a blind horse in a clay mill, going round and round and round all
his life. Why, he never gets so much change as to be able to go the
other way round, because if he did the mill wouldn't grind."

"Pooh!" cried Jack sharply. "It is not true: you can have plenty of
change. Clean knives first one day, and boots first the next, and then
begin with the plate."

"Ha--ha! haw--haw! he--he!" cried the man, boisterously, laughing, and
in his enjoyment lifting up one leg and putting it down with a stamp
over and over again.

"Don't stand there laughing like an idiot!" cried Jack angrily. "How
dare you!"

"Can't help it, sir, really, sir; can't help it. You made me. But go
on, sir. Do. Chuck some books at me for being so impudent."

"I will," cried Jack fiercely, "if you don't leave the room."

"That's right, sir; do, sir; it's stirred you up. Why, you have got the
stuff in you, Master Jack. I do believe you could fight after all if
you was put to it. You, sir, actually, sir, making a joke about the
knives and boots. Well, I wouldn't have believed it of you."

"Leave the room, sir!"

"Yes, sir, directly, sir