and shipped in a whaler bound for the
South Seas. I used to show him how to handle the ropes, to knot and
splice, and he soon became a pretty good hand, though he was not
smart aloft when reefing. His name was Small, but he was not a small
man; he was six feet two, and the strongest man on board, and he
didn't allow any man to thrash me, because I was little. After
eighteen months' whaling he persuaded me to run away from the ship at
Hobarton; he said he was tired of the greasy old tub; so one night we
bundled up our swags, dropped into a boat, and took the road to
Launceston, where we expected to find a vessel going to Melbourne.
When we were half-way across the island, we called just before
sundown at a farmhouse to see if we could get something to eat, and
lodging for the night. We found two women cooking supper in the
kitchen, and Jonathan said to the younger one, 'Is the old man at
home?' She replied quite pertly:

"'Captain Massey is at home, if that's what you mean by 'old man.'

"'Well, my dear,' said Jonathan, 'will you just tell him that we are
two seamen on our way to Launceston, and we'd like to have a word
with him.'

"'I am not your dear,' she replied, tossing her head, and went out.
After a while she returned, and said: 'Captain Massey wanted to
speak to the little man first.' That was me.

"I went into the house, and was shown into the parlour, where the
captain was standing behind a table. There was a gun close to his
hand in a corner, two horse pistols on a shelf, and a sword hanging
over them. He said: 'Who are you, where from, and whither bound?'
to which I replied:

"'My name is John Moore; me and my mate have left our ship, a whaler,
at Hobarton, and we are bound for Launceston.'

"'Oh, you are a runaway foremast hand are you? Then you know
something about work on board ship.' He then put questions to me
about the work of a seaman, making sail, and reefing, about masts,
yards, and rigging, and finished by telling me to box a compass. I
passed my examination pretty well, and he told me to send in the
other fellow. He put Jonathan through his sea-catechism in the same
way, and then said we could have supper and a shake-down for the
night.

"After supper the young lady sat near the kitchen fire sewing, and
Jonathan took a chair near her and began a conversation. He said:

"I must beg pardon for having ventured to address you as 'my dear,'
on so short an acquaintance, but I ho