to have me with him, as well
as my brother and Jim. Poor man! He had made his last voyage, for I
heard of his death shortly afterwards. I was very sorry to part from
Mr Griffiths and Dr Cockle. They invited me to come and see them,
both of them saying that they never intended again to go afloat, though
I heard that Mr Griffiths got the command of a fine ship shortly
afterwards; so I supposed that like many others similarly situated he
was induced to change his mind and tempt once more the dangers of the
ocean.

"We will meet again, Peter," said Miles Soper; "and I hope that if you
and Jack go to sea, we shall all be aboard the same ship."

Brown said the same thing, but from that day to this I have never been
able to learn what became of him. Such is often the case in a sea life.
For years people are living on the most intimate terms, and separate
never to meet again in this life.

After remaining a week in London for payment of our wages, Jim and I
each received five-and-twenty pounds, Jack also obtaining nearly half
that amount. Our first care before we set off for Portsmouth, to which
we were eager to return, was, our clothes being worn out, to supply
ourselves with decent suits of blue cloth and other necessaries.

At daylight the morning after we were free, carrying our bundles and the
various treasures we had collected, a pretty load altogether, we went to
the place from which the coach started for Portsmouth, and finding three
seats on the top, off we set with light hearts, thinking of the friends
we should meet on our arriving there. Jack confessed that he had
forgotten the appearance of most of them, though he longed to see Mary
and to give her the curiosities he had brought. We had a couple of
parrots, three other beautifully coloured birds, a big basket of shells,
and a whole bundle of bows, and arrows, and darts, and a lot of other
things.

Rattling down the Portsmouth High Street, we at last dismounted and set
off for Mr Gray's house, where I fully expected I should still find
Mary living. As we walked along, the boys gathered round us to look at
our birds, and some asked where we had come from with so many curious
things.

"From round the world," answered Jim, "since we were last at home,"
which was not a very definite answer.

In vain we looked, about expecting to see some old acquaintances, but
all the faces we set eyes on were strange. No wonder, considering how
long we had been away,