Tales of the Sea | Page 2

have no
interest in the navy, you must take your chance in the merchant
service."
"It's all the same to me, sir," I replied; "I shall be just as happy in the
one as in the other service;" and so I considered the matter settled.
When the day of parting came, I was as merry and full of fun as ever,
though I own there was a strange sensation about the heart which
bothered me; however, I was not going to show what I felt--not I.

I slyly pinched my sisters when we were exchanging parting kisses, till
they were compelled to shriek out and box my ears--an operation to
which I was well accustomed--and I made my brothers roar with the
sturdy grip I gave their fingers when we shook hands; and so, instead of
tears, there were shouts of laughter and screeches and screams, creating
a regular hullabuloo which put all sentimental grief to flight. "No, no,
Jack, I will have none of your tricks," cried Aunt Martha, when I
approached with a demure look to bid her farewell, so I took her hand
and pressed it to my lips with all the mock courtesy of a Sir Charles
Grandison. My mother! I had no heart to do otherwise than to throw my
arms round her neck and receive the fond embrace she bestowed upon
me, and if a tear did come into my eye, it was then. But there was
another person to whom I had to say good-bye, and that was dear little
Grace Goldie, my father's ward, a fair, blue-eyed girl, three or four
years younger than myself. I did not play her any trick, but kissed her
smooth young brow, and promised that I would bring her back no end
of pearls and ivory, and treasures of all sorts, from across the seas. She
smiled sweetly through her tears. "Thank you, Jack, thank you! I shall
so long to see you back," she whispered; and I had to bolt, or I believe
that I should have began to pipe my eye in a way I had no fancy for.
My father's voice summoned me. "Now, Jack," he said, "as you have
chosen your bed, you must lie on it. But remember--after a year's
trial--if you change your mind, let me know."
"No fear of that, sir," I answered.
"We shall see, Jack," he replied. He wrung my hand, and gave me his
blessing. "I have directed Mr Junk to provide your outfit, and you will
find it all right." Who Mr Junk was I had no conception; but as my
father said it was all right, I troubled my head no more about the
matter.
My father's old clerk, Simon Munch, was waiting for me at the door,
and hurried me off to catch the Newcastle coach. On our arrival there
he took me to the office of Junk, Tarbox and Company, shipbrokers.
"Here is the young gentleman, Mr Junk," he said, addressing a
one-eyed, burly, broad-shouldered personage, with a rubicund

countenance, in a semi-nautical costume. "You know what to do with
him, and so I leave him in your hands. Good-bye, Jack, I hope you may
like it."
"No fear of that, Mr Munch," I answered; "and tell them at home that
you left me as jolly and happy as ever."
"So, Master Brooke, you want to go to sea?" said Mr Junk, squirting a
stream of tobacco-juice across his office, and eyeing me with his sole
bloodshot blinker; "and you expect to like it?"
"Of course I do; I expect to be happy wherever I am," I answered in a
confident tone.
"We shall see," he replied. "I have sent your chest aboard of the Naiad.
Captain Grimes will be here anon, and I'll hand you over to him."
The person he spoke of just then made his appearance. I did not
particularly like my future commander's outside. He was a tall, gaunt
man, with a long weather-beaten visage and huge black or rather
grizzled whiskers; and his voice, when he spoke, was gruff and harsh in
the extreme. I need not further describe him; only I will observe that he
looked considerably cleaner then than he usually did, as I afterwards
found on board the brig. He took but little notice of me beyond a slight
nod, as he was busy with the ship's papers. Having pocketed them, he
grasped me by the hand with a "Come along, my lad; I am to make a
seaman on ye." He spoke in a broad Northumbrian accent, and in a
harsh guttural tone. I was not prepossessed in his favour, but I
determined to show no signs of unwillingness to accompany him.
We were soon seated in the stern of an excessively dirty boat, with