llowing
your own counsel, you will soon have to open them yourself very wide,
when it is too late."

I liked the tone of the master's voice, as well as the expression of his
countenance; and I therefore felt inclined to believe him. At the same
time I did not like to be moved, as it were, from my purpose by every
breath of wind.

"I promised to sail with Captain Hawk, or whatever may be his name; and
though I cannot doubt but that you have good reason for what you say,
sir, yet I don't like to desert him, without some proof that he is the
character you describe him," I replied.

"Did he tell you what trade he was in?" asked the captain.

"No, sir," I replied; "he said nothing about it."

"Then be guided by me, youngster, and don't ship with him," he said,
speaking most earnestly. "You may make every inquiry about my brig--the
_Susannah_, Captain Samuel Searle. You will find all is clear and
above-board with me. I want hands, I own, and I should be glad to have
you, but that does not influence me in what I say."

The shopkeeper corroborated all Captain Searle had told me, and added so
many other stories of the character of Captain Hawk and his schooner,
that I felt truly glad there was yet time to escape from him. Bad as he
might be, there was something in his manner which made me wish not to
desert him altogether, without offering him some excuse for my conduct.
I accordingly, leaving my bundle in the shop, went back to the quay,
where I found him lounging as before. He at first did not know me in my
change of dress when I accosted him.

"You are a likely lad for a sailor," he remarked, as he ran his eye over
me approvingly.

"I am glad you think so," I answered; and I then told him I had met the
master of a vessel whom I had known in Liverpool, and that I wished to
sail with him.

"And he has been telling you that I am a slaver, I suppose, or something
worse, eh?" he exclaimed in a sneering tone, and with an angry flash of
the eye I did not like. I looked conscious, I suppose; for he
continued, "And you believed him, and were afraid to sail with so
desperate a character, eh? Well, lad, go your own ways, I don't want to
lead you. But I know of whom you speak, for I saw him go into the shop
where you have been, and tell him _to look out for himself that's all_."
Saying this, he turned on his heel, and I went back to the shop.

I told Captain Searle what Captain Hawk had said.

"That does not matter