The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands | Page 8

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 should consort
with a man who can do you no goods and, will certainly do 'ee much
harm, when you've no call for to do so. Why do 'ee stick by him--that's
what I want to know--when everybody says he'll be the ruin of you?
And why do 'ee always put me off with vague answers when I git upon
that subject? You did not use to act like that, Jim. You were always fair
an' above-board in your young days. But what's the use of askin'? It's
plain that bad company has done it, an' my only wonder is, how you
ever come to play the hypocrite to that extent, as to go to the
prayer-meeting and make believe you've turned religious."
There was a little bitterness mingled with the tone of remonstrance in
which this was said, which appeared to affect the young man

powerfully, for his face crimsoned as he stopped and laid his hand on
his father's shoulder.
"Whatever follies or sins I may have committed," he said, solemnly, "I
have not acted a hypocrite's part in this matter. Did you ever yet find
me out, father, tellin' you a lie?"
"Well, I can't say I ever did," answered the mate with a relenting smile,
"'xcept that time when you skimmed all the cream off the milk and
capsized the dish and said the cat done it, although you was slobbered
with it from your nose to your toes--but you was a very small fellow at
that time, you was, and hadn't got much ballast aboard nor begun to
stow your conscience."
"Well, father," resumed Jim with a half-sad smile, "you may depend
upon it I am not going to begin to deceive you now. My dear mother's
last words to me on that dreary night when she died,--`Always stick to
the truth, Jim, whatever it may cost you,'--have never been forgotten,
and I pray God they never may be. Believe me when I tell you that I
never join Morley in any of his sinful doings, especially his drinking
bouts. You know that I am a total abstainer--"
"No, you're not," cried Mr Welton, senior; "you don't abstain totally
from bad company, Jim, and it's that I complain of."
"I never join him in his drinking bouts," repeated Jim, without noticing
the interruption; "and as he never confides to me any of his business
transactions, I have no reason to say that I believe them to be unfair. As
I said before, I may suspect, but suspicion is not knowledge; we have
no right to condemn him on mere suspicion."
"True, my son; but you have a perfect right to