r fortunate that he was thus able to obtain
the opinion of both father and son upon it. As might have been
expected, although these two seamen were friends of the Saint Legers,
they were so embittered by disappointment at the failure of the recent
expedition that they could not find words strong enough to denounce the
scheme and to discourage its would-be leader, and so well did they
succeed in the latter that for an hour or two George was almost inclined
to abandon the idea altogether. Yet how could he reconcile himself to
the leaving of his brother to a fate far worse than death itself--for
though he had sought to make the best of the matter to his mother, he
himself had no illusions as to what that fate would be--and how could he
face his mother with such a suggestion? The lad had infinite faith in
himself, He knew, better than anybody else, that he had never yet had an
opportunity to show of what stuff he was made, he candidly admitted the
damaging fact of his extreme youth, but he would not admit to himself
that it was a disability, although others regarded it as such; he had
been a sailor for seven years and during that time he had mastered the
whole of the knowledge that then went to make the complete seaman;
moreover, he was also old for his years, a thinker, and he carried at
the back of his brain many an idea that was destined to be of
inestimable value to him in the near future; therefore, after a long
walk to and fro upon the Hoe, he returned home, disappointed it is true,
but with his resolution as strong and his courage as high as ever.

And here he found balm and encouragement awaiting him in the person of
one Simon Radlett, a shipbuilder, owning an extensive yard at Millbay.

"Old Si Radlett," as he was generally called, was something of a
character in Millbay and its immediate neighbourhood, for, in addition
to being admittedly the best builder of ships in all Devon, he was a bit
of an eccentric, a man with bold and original ideas upon many subjects,
a man of violent likes and dislikes, a bachelor, an exceedingly shrewd
man of business, and--some said--a miser. He was turned sixty years of
age, and of course had seen many and great changes in Plymouth during
his time, yet, although well advanced in the "sere and yellow," was
still a hale and hearty man, able to do a hard day's work against the
best individual in his yard; and although he had the reputation of being
wealthy he lived alone in a little