ing to ask why you think that the captain wishes to get rid
of you? He can have no motive that I can discover to desire your
death."

"He hates me, that's enough; he's a man who will go any lengths to
gratify his hate," answered old Tom. "But I promised to tell you about
the matter which weighs on my mind. Jack, I did many things when I was
a young man, which I am sorry for, but I was then chiefly my own enemy.
A time came, however, when I was tempted to commit a crime against
others, and it's only since I began this voyage that I have had a wish
to try and undo it as far as I have the power. You must know, Jack, I
am the son of a gentleman, and I went to college. I had got into bad
ways there, and spent all my property. When my last shilling was gone,
I shipped on board a merchant vessel, and for years never again set foot
on the shores of old England. I knocked about all that time in
different climes and vessels, herding with the roughest and most
abandoned class of seamen, till I became almost as abandoned and rough
as they were. Still, during all my wanderings, I had a hankering for
the associates and the refinements of society I had so long quitted.
Thoughts of home would come back to me even in my wildest moments,
although I tried hard to keep them out. At length I returned to England
with more money in my pocket than I had ever again expected to possess.
Throwing aside my seafaring clothes as soon as I got on shore, I dressed
myself as a gentleman, and repairing to a fashionable watering-place,
where I found several old friends, managed to get into respectable
society. I forgot that unless I could obtain some employment my money
must soon come to an end. It did so, but the taste for good society had
been revived in me. It was now impossible to indulge in it, and I was
compelled once more to seek for a berth on board ship. Thoughtlessly, I
had never studied navigation while I was at sea, and consequently had
again to go before the mast. I got on board an Indiaman, and reached
Calcutta. On the return voyage we had a number of passengers. I of
course knew but little about them, as I seldom went aft except to take
my trick at the helm. I observed, however, among them a gentleman of
refined appearance, with his wife and their little boy. They had a
native nurse to take care of him. No one could be more affectionate
than the gentleman was to his wife and child, but he seemed of a
retiring disposition