go on board
the ship. When I come down to the harbour I took great fancy to him,
and asked captain to let him stay with me, but he and captain say no.
He want to go home to see father and mother, brother and sister. When I
found the men killed I remembered him, but no find him 'mong them. Dat
all I know, but me think that he was with captain when they got away in
the boat."

At first, on hearing what the king said, I was almost in despair, for I
was very sure that he was speaking of my brother Jack, as I thought that
by this time I should have grown very like him, as I often heard my
mother say that I was so when I was at the age at which he went to sea.
How he had got on board the _Harriet_ I could not tell, any more than I
could what had become of her boat. Still there was a possibility of his
having escaped. I had no wish to return on shore with "Prince Charlie"
after I had handed the king over to the care of Mr Griffiths, as I
wanted to talk about the matter to Jim. As may be supposed, we did talk
about it for many an hour. I was now eager to be out of the harbour, in
the hopes that we might visit some other islands at which Jack might be
found. Jim was as sanguine as ever that he would be found. When I told
Mr Griffiths he looked very grave.

"It is possible, my lad," he said, "and nothing would give me greater
pleasure than to find him at last; but you know what is likely to have
been the fate of the poor fellows in a boat, with a scanty supply of
provisions and a long voyage to the nearest land. Just look at the
chart. We are away from all civilised countries, with the wildest
savages on each side of us."

Next day, when the captain and the rest of the party came on board, and
as soon as our royal visitor had taken his departure, I was very glad to
hear the order given to get under way. The breeze being fair we stood
out of the harbour.

We were soon at our old work again. My patience was sorely tried. If I
had not been actively engaged I don't know what I should have done.

My idea was that the captain would at once sail in search of the missing
boat, but he had no idea of the sort in his head. He either was
convinced that she was lost, or considered that it was his business to
fill up his ship as soon as possible, and not to waste time in looking
for those who might never be found.

We had caught several whales, when the time came for returning to the
Japan fishing ground, as it's called,