office; and for cooking, you
won't require much of that. This will break you in by degrees for the
life you've to lead, and will do you good, my lad. So I hope you will
be grateful."

From the determined manner he had about him, I supposed that all was
right; and had it been otherwise, my spirits at that time were too low
to allow me to remonstrate. I asked him next if I could not go on board
the _Black Swan_, to make myself useful.

He gave a peculiar smile, the meaning of which I did not comprehend at
the time, as he replied, "By all means. You will probably find Captain
Swales on board--at all events his first mate; and you may offer your
valuable services to them. When they have done with you, you may come
back here. By keeping along the quays to the right, you cannot miss the
ship if you ask for her."

I had scarcely fancied that there were so many ships in the world as I
saw crowded together in the Liverpool docks, as I passed through them
for the first time in my life. It gave me a great notion of the wealth
and commerce of the place. "And these will all be gone in a few weeks,"
I thought, "scattered far and wide to all parts of the world, and their
places will be filled by others now on their homeward voyage, which will
have again to make way for a totally fresh set." I inquired for the
_Black Swan_ of the seamen and porters loitering about the quays, but I
did not get very satisfactory answers. Some told me that she was drunk
last night, and had not got up yet. Others said she had sailed
yesterday, for they had seen her dropping down with the tide. The
boatmen invariably wanted me to take a boat to look for her, as the only
chance I had of finding her; but I saw that they were trying to impose
on me, and passed on. At last, when I had got very near to the west end
of the docks, I asked a man whom I saw standing in a meditative mood,
with his hands in his pockets, if he would tell me where the _Black
Swan_ was to be found.

"Why, I calculate, if you look right before your nose, young one, you'll
see her as big as life," he answered, pointing to a large ship lying
along the quay, on board which a number of men were employed about the
rigging; while others, with a peculiar song, were hoisting in the cargo.
I found that the first were riggers, and that the others were dock
porters, and that neither belonged to the ship; the regular crew, with
the exception of two mates and the cook, not being engag