ected to see again. Nancy would scarcely
let me go.

"Oh, Peter, Peter! What should us do if anything was to happen to ye
out on the cruel sea!" she cried, as she held my hand and rubbed her
eyes with her apron.

The next day the _Good Intent_ went out of harbour, and I began in
earnest the seafaring life I was destined to lead.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

MY FIRST VOYAGE.

Wind south-south-west. The North Foreland had been rounded; the
countless craft, of all sizes and rigs, generally to be found off the
mouth of the Thames, had been cleared, and the _Good Intent_, with
studding-sails alow and aloft, was standing across the German Ocean.

Jim and I soon found our sea-legs, and were as well able to go aloft to
reef topsails as the older hands. We were already well up to the
ordinary duties of seamen, and could take our place at the helm with any
of them.

"Mr Gray was not mistaken about thee, laddie," said the captain to me
one day as I came aft to the wheel. "Go on as thou hast begun; obey
God, and thou wilt prosper."

I was much pleased with this praise, for the old man was not given to
throwing words away. While I steered he stood by telling me not only
what to do then, but how to act under various circumstances. At other
times he made me come into the cabin and gave me lessons in navigation
to fit me to become a mate and master. Jim, being unable to read, and
showing no aptitude for learning, had not the same advantages. We both
of us lived forward with the men, some of whom were a little jealous of
the favour I received, and not only played me tricks, ordered me to do
all sorts of disagreeable jobs, and gave me a taste of the rope's-end on
the sly, but tried hard to set Jim against me. They soon, however,
found out that they were not likely to succeed, for though Jim did not
mind how they treated him, he was always ready to stick up for me.

The forecastle of the _Good Intent_ was thus not a paradise to either of
us. The greater number of the men were, however, well-disposed, and it
was only when they were on deck that the others dared to behave as I
have described, while, as we would not complain, the mate knew nothing
of what was going forward below. I remember thinking to myself, "If
these sort of things can be done on board a ship, with a
well-disciplined crew and a good captain and mate, how hard must be the
lot of the unhappy boys serving in a craft where the captain, officers,
and men are al