Salt Water | Page 3

could help it, Doctor; or give it to
others either," I answered. "I fear that I should make a bad minister,
and a worse merchant; and as for the law, I would not change places
with the Counsellor himself, if he were to ask me. I should have no
objection to the army; but if I'm to choose my profession, I'll go to sea,
by all means. I've no fancy for any but a sea life; but I'll just go and talk
the matter over with Larry, and hear what he thinks about it."
The Doctor said nothing. He considered, I conclude, that he had obeyed
my uncle's wishes in proposing the matter to me, and his conscience
was at rest. I forthwith ran off and broached the subject to Larry; not
that I doubted what his advice would be. The old seaman gave a hitch

to the waistband of his trousers, as he replied, with no little animation--
"Why, you see, Master Neil, to my mind there's only one calling which
a man, who is anything of a man, would wish to follow. The others are
all very well in their way: the parsons, and the soldiers, and the
big-wigged lawyers, and the merchants, and the doctors, and the
`'plomatics'--them who goes abroad to desave the furriners, and takes
up so much room and gives themselves such airs aboard ship; but what,
just let me ax, is the best on 'em when you puts him alongside a right
honest, thorough-bred seaman? What's the proudest on 'em, when it
comes to blow half a capful of wind? What's the boldest on 'em in a
dark night, on a lee shore? Not one on 'em is worth that!" and he
snapped his fingers to show his contempt for landsmen of every degree.
"On course, Master Neil, dear, you'll be a seaman. With my will, the
navy is the only calling your blessed mother's son should follow. Your
grandfather died in it, and your great-grandfather before him; and I
hope to see you in command of one of His Majesty's ships before I
die-- that I do. But I was forgetting that you were growing so big, and
that you would be going off to sea so soon," continued the old man, in
an altered tone. "You'll remember, for his sake, all the lessons Larry
gave you, Master Neil? And you'll think of your old friend sometimes
in a night watch, won't you, now?"
I assured him that I would often think of him, and try not to forget any
of his lessons. I then went back to the Doctor, to inform him that Larry
agreed with me that the navy was the only profession likely to suit me.
My future calling being thus speedily settled, Doctor Driscoll, who was
aware that knowledge would not come by intuition, sent me to an old
master in the navy, who fortunately resided in the neighbourhood, to be
instructed in the rudiments of navigation. As I was as wide awake as
most youngsters of my age, I very soon gained a fair insight into its
mysteries; and by the time the spring came round, I was pronounced fit
for duty.
A brother of my mother's, who commanded a large revenue cutter on
the south coast of England, having been applied to for advice by the
Doctor, answered by the following short note:--

"Dear Sir,--I'll make a seaman of Neil, with all my heart, if you will
send him across to Portsmouth. Let him inquire for me at the `Star and
Garter.' Should I be away on a cruise, I will leave word with the
landlady what is to be done with him. My craft is the Serpent.
"I remain, faithfully yours,--
"Terence O'Flaherty."
"What! send the child all the way over to Portsmouth by himself!"
exclaimed good Mrs Driscoll, the Doctor's wife, on hearing the
contents of this epistle. "Why, he might be spirited off to the
Plantations or the Black Hole of Calcutta, and we never hear any more
about him. What could Mr O'Flaherty be thinking about?"
"That his nephew is about to be an officer in His Majesty's service, and
that the sooner he learns to take care of himself, the better," replied the
Doctor.
"Let him begin, then, by slow degrees, as birds are taught to fly," urged
the kind dame. "He has never been out of the nest yet, except to school,
when he was put in charge of the coachman, like a parcel."
"He will find his way safe enough," muttered the Doctor. "Won't you,
Neil?"
To speak the truth, I would gladly have undertaken to find my way to
Timbuctoo, or the Antipodes, by myself; but I had just formed a plan
which I was afraid might be frustrated, had