The Two Whalers | Page 2

asked, "How's father and mother, and Susan and Jane, and Mary and
Dick, and the rest of them; and little Tommy?"
He was the youngest of us, and could just toddle when Bill went away.
Thus he ran on, asking question after question, which I answered as
well as I could, while we went towards home at a pretty round trot--he
eager to get there and see them all again, and I almost as eager to have
the satisfaction of rushing in and shouting out, "Here's Bill come back
again!"
I need not describe the way Bill was received. No one seemed to think
that they could make enough of him. Mary, a small girl, sat on his knee
at supper, with one arm round his neck, and ever and anon gave him a
kiss and a hug, exclaiming, "Dear Bill, we are so glad you're come

back;" and Susan and Jane placed themselves one on each side that they
might the better help him to what was on the table; and we bigger boys
listened eagerly to all he said; and father watched him with pride, and
the light shone brighter than ever from mother's eyes as she gazed at
him; and little Tommy came toddling into the room in his night-gown
(having scrambled out of his crib) saying, "Tommy want see dat
brodder Bill really come home--all right--dere he is--hurrah!" and off
he ran again with Susan at his heels, but he had nimbly climbed into his
nest before she caught him.
As to myself, I looked at Bill with unbounded admiration, and eagerly
listened to every word which dropped from his lips. He had plenty to
talk about, and wonders of all sorts to describe, for he had been in the
Indian Sea, and visited China, and the west coast of America, and
several islands in the Pacific, and gone round the world. How he rattled
on! I thought Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier, Lord Anson and Captain
Cook were nothing to him--at all events, that I would far rather hear the
narrative of his adventures than read theirs.
I was almost vexed with Captain Bland for coming in one evening,
even though Mary accompanied him, because Bill became suddenly far
more reticent than usual in his presence, if not altogether dumb, and
when he did speak, merely described in a modest tone some very
commonplace occurrences. I could not make it out. After some time,
when Bill was out of ear-shot, I heard Captain Bland remark to father
that he liked lads who did not speak about themselves. It was a pretty
sure sign that they were better doers than talkers. "He'll succeed, will
that lad of yours; he's kept his eyes open wherever he's been; he'll make
a smart officer one of these days," he added.
I was much pleased when Captain Bland thus spoke of Bill, and I
thought to myself, what would he have said if he had heard him
describe some of the wonderful adventures he had narrated to us. When
I afterwards told Bill what the old captain had said, and my ideas on the
subject, he laughed heartily.
"Why, Jack, he would have shut me up pretty smartly," he answered.
"Old cocks don't allow young ones to crow in their presence."

Bill made ample amends for his previous silence when we were
together, knowing that I was never tired of listening to him. I could
think about nothing else but what he had told me, and I made up my
mind that I would far rather become a sailor than follow any other
calling. I told him so.
"Well, Jack, I think you're right," he said; "I wouldn't change if I had
the offer--no, not to become Prime Minister of England or the first
merchant in the land. Remember, though, it isn't all smooth sailing.
You must expect rough weather as well as fine; but if you're
determined to go I'll speak to father, and I don't think that he'll refuse
you."
Bill fulfilled his promise, and father, after consulting Captain Bland,
agreed to let me go, provided I was of the same mind when I was old
enough to be apprenticed. Neither our mother nor our sisters had a
word to say against my wishes; nor had Mary Bland.
"I wish that I was a boy, Jack, that I might go also," she exclaimed.
"We shall be very, very sorry to lose you," she added after a short
silence; "but then, you know, you will come back, and how glad we all
shall be to see you again."
Bill told me how well pleased he was that father had given me leave to
go to sea. "But I want you to study navigation at once, so that you may
become an officer