in--the Madras--is a fine
craft, and the captain bears as high a character as anyone in the
Company's fleet.

"Well, lad, I hope that it will all turn out well. If I could have
talked the lingo like a native, I would have been glad to have gone
with you, and taken my chances. The captain saved my life in that
wreck, and it would only have been right that I should risk mine for
him, if there was but a shadow of chance of its being of use. But I
know that, in a job of this sort, I could be of no good whatsomever,
and should be getting you into trouble before we had gone a mile
together."

"I am sure that you would help, if you could, Ben; but, of course, you
could be of no use."

"And when do you think of being home again, lad?"

"There is no saying, Ben--it may be years. But, however long it takes,
I sha'n't give it up until I find out, for certain, what has become of
my father."

"And ain't there a chance of hearing how you are getting on, Dick? I
shall think of you and your mother, often and often, when I am on deck
keeping my watch at night; and it will seem hard that I mayn't be able
to hear, for years, as to what you are doing."

"The only thing that I can do, Ben, will be to write if I get a chance
of sending a messenger, or for my mother to write to you, to the
office."

"That is it. You send a letter to Ben Birket, boatswain of the
Madeira, care of East India Company, Leadenhall Street; and I shall
get it, sooner or later. Of course, I shall not expect a long yarn,
but just two or three words to tell me how you are getting on, and
whether you have got any news of your father. And if you come back to
England, leave your address at the Company's office for me; for it
ain't an easy matter to find anyone out, in London, unless you have
got their bearings right."

Ten days later, Mrs. Holland and Dick embarked on the Madras. Dick had
been warned, by his mother, to say nothing to anyone on board as to
the object of their voyage.

"I shall mention," she said, "that I am going out to make some
inquiries respecting the truth of a report that has reached me, that
some of those on board the Hooghley, of which my husband was captain,
survived the wreck, and were taken up the country. That will be quite
sufficient. Say nothing about my having been born in India, or that my
father was a native rajah. Some of these officials--and still more,
their wives--are very prejudiced, and consider themselves to be quite
di