ch, probably, was our inheritance, my mother's capital!

Under these circumstances it behoved me to consider how I could best aid
my poor mother and sister, then left suddenly destitute through no fault
of their own.

Fortunately, I had the means ready at hand.

In our constant association on board the _Star of the North_ after his
rescue from the drifting boat, in which he greatly exaggerated the help
I was able to render him, Colonel Vereker was kind enough to notice me
much more than my subordinate position on board would have seemed to
warrant; and in a conversation we had together during the voyage home
from New York, after asking me what my prospects were, he made me an
offer to accompany him back to Venezuela on his return, promising me,
should I accept, a good salary to start with, and a fair chance of
ultimately making my fortune.

Loving the sea and my profession, however, with all a sailor's love,
besides being attached to my old ship and her officers, I felt no
inclination then to give up what I had learnt to look upon as my
legitimate calling, and turn landsman; so, although I had the highest
admiration for the colonel, coupled with more than a liking for his
young daughter, between whom and myself there seemed such a mysterious
sympathy on the evening of my sighting the _Saint Pierre_, when the
captain declared we were some hundreds of miles apart, I reluctantly
and, so it seemed to me, ungraciously, declined his proposal, telling
him I preferred "sticking" to the skipper and the old barquey!

But the colonel very kindly would not take my refusal at first as final;
and, when setting out for Paris to take Elsie to her convent school, she
taking leave of me with many tears and assurances that under any
circumstances she would always remain _mio amiquito_ (my little friend)
pledging herself, too, to be, if allowed at the school, a constant
correspondent if I would write to her sometimes to let her know where I
was. Well, the kind, good-hearted man, taking, as he said, a deep
interest in my welfare for Elsie's sake as well as for my own, assured
me that he would keep his generous offer open until the period arrived
for his ultimate departure for South America, on the termination of the
trial of the Haytian pirates and their mutineer accomplices.

So, recollecting all this, in my hour of need, I naturally turned to the
colonel and told him of my trouble on his return to Liverpool for the
assizes, at whic