fy the demands of the
widow's landlord," said Mr Gray; and he then added, "Come to my house
to-morrow, and I will meantime consider what can be done to put you in
the way of gaining your daily bread. I desire to show thee that I am
pleased with thy conduct, but it were small kindness were I to enable
thee to live in idleness."

Again thanking Mr Gray from the bottom of my heart, I said, "What I
want, sir, is work. Help me to get that, and it will be all I ask."

Before going away Mr Gray saw Mary for a short time, and paid a long
visit to poor Mrs Simmons, which she said did her heart good.

I had never felt so happy in my life, and could not resist going out to
tell Jim Pulley.

"Ask him to set thee up with a wherry and we'll go out together again as
we used to do. That will be fine, and we'll be as merry as two
crickets!" he exclaimed.

"I think I ought to leave it with him," I answered. "A wherry costs a
lot of money, and he has already been very generous, though I should
like him to do as you propose, and I promise you, Jim, whatever he
proposes, to stick by you."

"That's all I care for," answered my friend.

He accompanied me to the door, but would not come in for fear of
disturbing Mary.

The next day I went to see Mr Gray, who lived in a pretty house some
way out of Portsmouth. He and his daughters received me very kindly.
He had, he said, been considering what he could do for me. He would
obtain a wherry for me, but he considered that the life of a waterman
was not suited to a lad like me, and he then said that he was a
shipowner, and was about to despatch a brig in a few days to the coast
of Norway for timber, and that, if I pleased, he would send me on board
her as an apprentice. Also, as he considered that I was already a
seaman, he would give me a trifle of pay. Remembering what my father
used to say about not wishing Jack "to become a long-shore lubber," I at
once replied that I would thankfully have accepted his offer, but that I
could not desert Jim Pulley, who would well-nigh break his heart, if I
were to go away without him.

"Nor need thee do that, my son," he answered. "I will provide a berth
also for thy friend on board the _Good Intent_, and he and thou need not
be parted. I approve of thy constancy to him and of his faithfulness to
thee. A long-shore life, such as thou wouldst lead if thou wast owner
of a wherry, would be dangerous if not demoralising, albeit thou might
live