n hour?" asked Mr Welton, senior, as he shook
hands with his son.

"I've come to have a talk with 'ee, father. As to creeping like a
thief, a man must creep with the tide when there's no wind, d'ye see, if
he don't come to an anchor. 'Tis said that time and tide wait for no
man; that bein' so, I have come to see you now that I've got the chance.
That's where it is. But I can't stay long, for old Jones will--"

"What!" interrupted the mate with a frown, as he led his son to the
forepart of the vessel, in order to be out of earshot of the watch,
"have 'ee really gone an' shipped with that scoundrel again, after all
I've said to 'ee?"

"I have, father," answered the young man with a perplexed expression;
"it is about that same that I've come to talk to 'ee, and to explain--"

"You have need to explain, Jim," said the mate sternly, "for it seems to
me that you are deliberately taking up with bad company; and I see in
you already one o' the usual consequences; you don't care much for your
father's warnings."

"Don't say that, father," exclaimed the youth earnestly, "I am sure that
if you knew--stay; I'll send back the boat, with orders to return for me
in an hour or so."

Saying this he hurried to the gangway, dismissed the boat, and returned
to the forepart of the vessel, where he found his father pacing the deck
with an anxious and somewhat impatient air.

"Father," said Jim, as he walked up and down beside his sire, "I have
made up my mind that it is my duty to remain, at least a little longer
with Jones, because--"

"Your duty!" interrupted the mate in surprise. "James!" he added,
earnestly, "you told me not long ago that you had taken to attending the
prayer-meetings at the sailors' chapel when you could manage it, and I
was glad to hear you say so, because I think that the man who feels his
need of the help of the Almighty, and acts upon his feeling, is safe to
escape the rocks and shoals of life--always supposin' that he sails by
the right chart--the Bible; but tell me, does the missionary, or the
Bible, teach that it is any one's duty to take up with a swearing,
drinking scoundrel, who is going from bad to worse, and has got the name
of being worthy of a berth in Newgate?"

"We cannot tell, father, whether all that's said of Morley Jones be
true. We may have our suspicions, but we can't prove t'em; and there's
no occasion to judge a man too soon."

"That may be so, Jim, but that is no reason why you