The History of Little Peter, the Ship Boy | Page 5

his mother, who had taught him to read, and trained him in the love and fear of God. The Bible was almost the only book he knew. He was, in consequence, grave beyond his years. The few neighbours used to laugh at him as "an odd, old-fashioned little fellow," as, indeed, he was; but everybody respected and trusted him.
He walked up and down the quay once or twice before he could make up his mind what to do. At last he determined to address a sailor-looking man who was leaning against a stout post round which two or three hawsers from the neighbouring vessels were secured.
"Is one of those ships there yours?" asked Peter, in a hesitating tone.
"Why do you want to know, my lad?" inquired the seaman.
"Because I want to go and be a sailor in one of them," said Peter.
"Then take my advice, and give up wanting," said the seaman. "Better by half remain on shore, and tend sheep and cattle, as I have a notion you have been doing. None of the vessels are mine; I am only mate in the John and Mary, yonder," pointing to a schooner which lay alongside the quay. "We have got a boy, and I would not have a hand in taking any youngster away from home unless he knew more about what he would have to go through than I suspect you do. Now go back, lad, whence you came," continued the mate, folding his arms and puffing away at the pipe he had in his mouth.
One or two other sailors laughed at him or roughly turned aside without deigning to answer.
At last he reached a two-masted vessel, in reality a brig, somewhat larger than the rest, but her deck was black with coal-dust, and everything about her had a dark, grimy look. A rough, black-bearded, strongly-built man, better dressed than some of those he had spoken to, was stepping on shore by the plank which formed a communication between the vessel and the quay. Peter guessed rightly that he was the captain. Beginning to feel that his hope of going to sea was less likely to be accomplished than he had expected, he determined, with a feeling somewhat akin to desperation, to address him, though the expression of his countenance was far from encouraging.
"Do you want a boy on board your ship, sir?" he said, touching his hat, as his mother had taught him to do when addressing his betters.
"What, run away from home?" asked the man, stopping, and looking down upon him.
"I have no home, sir," answered Peter.
"What, no father and mother?"
"No, sir," said Peter. "Mother is dead, and father, they say, is dead, too."
"Then you will do for me. As it happens, I do want a boy. Here, Jim," he said, turning round, and addressing a sailor as rough-looking as he was himself, but much dirtier, who appeared at the companion-hatch; "here's a lad for you. You had better keep an eye on him, as maybe he will change his mind, and run off again. Go aboard, boy," he added, turning to Peter, "Jim will look after you, and show you what you have got to do."
The captain went into the town, and old Jim, who proved to be the mate, took charge of Peter.
Old Jim asked him several questions. The answers which Peter gave appeared to satisfy him.
Peter inquired the captain's name.
"Captain Hawkes; and our brig is the Polly," answered Jim. "You won't find a finer craft between this and `No man's land,' if you know where that is."
Peter saw that she was the largest vessel in the harbour, and so readily believed what the mate said.
The old man asked him if he was hungry, and Peter acknowledging; that such was the case, he took him down into the cabin, and after giving him some bread and ham, offered him a tumbler of rum and water. Peter, who had never tasted spirits, said he would rather not take the rum, whereon old Jim laughed at him and drank it himself.
"We shall all get under weigh with the evening tide if the wind holds fair, for it's off the land you see, and will take us out of the harbour," he observed. "You had better lie down till then on the locker and get some sleep, for may be you will find your first night at sea rather strange to you."
"Where is the vessel going to?" asked Peter, who fully expected to be told that it was to the Holy Land, or India, or some of the few other distant countries of which he had heard.
"We are bound to Newcastle first to take in coals, and it's more than I can tell you where we shall go after that."
"Is Newcastle in a far-off country?" asked Peter.
"It's a