d his captain at a short distance, and looking Tom in the
face. "You was not aboard the _Arethusa_. I'll tell you what kept you
down. It was conceit, idleness, drink, and cowardice; and I'll tell you
what gave our brave captain his first lift in the service. It was his
truthfulness, his good sense, his obedience to the orders of his
superiors. It was his soberness, his bravery; and if you, with your
learning and advantages, had been like him, you too might have been in
command of a dashing frigate, and not stumping about on one wooden leg,
with the other tied up to deceive the people. It's hard things I'm
saying, I know, but I cannot stand by and hear a fellow who ought to
know better running monstrous falsehoods off his reel as you have been
doing. You might have borne up for Greenwich, and been looked after by
a grateful country; or you might have saved money enough to have kept
yourself in comfort to the end of your days; but it all went in drink
and debauchery, and now you abuse the government for not looking after
you. Howsumdever, Tom Fletcher, I'm very sorry for you, and if you'll
knock off this sort of vagabond life, which brings disgrace on the name
of a British sailor, I'll answer for it our good captain will exert his
influence and get you a berth in Greenwich or elsewhere, for he has
often spoken about you, and wondered where you were a-serving."

Jack Peek had probably never made so long a speech in his life. It was
perhaps too long, for it enabled the old sailor to recover his presence
of mind, and looking at Jack with a brazen countenance, he declared that
he had never seen him before, when off he went as fast as he could walk
on his wooden stumps, and turning down a by-lane was lost to view.

Jack had to hurry on to overtake his captain. It was the last time he
saw Tom Fletcher alive; but he afterwards heard that a man answering his
description, who had been sent to prison as a rogue and a vagabond, had
subsequently been killed in a drunken quarrel with another seaman of the
same character.

Jack had followed his old friend and captain from ship to ship, and at
length having overcome the difficulty not only of the alphabet, but of
pothooks and hangers, he obtained his warrant, and for several years had
charge of one of the ships in which he had fought and bled, now laid up
in Portsmouth harbour.

In the course of years there was found in the list of English Admirals
the names of Sir William