long stair no doubt, and as he stood in the middle of the
room, puffing and wiping his bald head with a handkerchief, my mother
rose hastily and offered him a chair.

"You are very kind, sir," she said; "do sit down, sir. I'm sure I don't
know why you should take so much trouble. But, dear me, you are very
warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?"

"Thank you, thank you. With much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son
objects to a `_stingy old chap_' sitting beside him."

I blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some apology;
but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain his intentions
in short, rapid sentences.

To make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while I
was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and
said he would call with that sum every week as long as I was absent. My
mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that
evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving his
address, went away.

The sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of
all this, that he could scarcely speak. Immediately after the departure
of the old gentleman, he said, "Well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye,
Bob," and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room.

"Stop," I shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair.

"Hallo! wot's wrong now?"

"Nothing, I only forgot to ask your name."

"Tom Lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain,
"w'ich wos my father's name before me."

So saying, he departed, whistling "Rule Britannia" with all his might.

Thus the matter was settled. Six days afterwards, I rigged myself out
in a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea.

CHAPTER TWO.

AT SEA.

My first few days on the ocean were so miserable that I oftentimes
repented of having left my native land. I was, as my new friend Tom
Lokins said, as sick as a dog. But in course of time I grew well, and
began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows
of the sea.

Many and many a time I used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit,
when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the deep
blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling clouds in
the sky, thinking of the new course of life I had just begun. At such
times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind, and I
thoug