ld house, the old woman, and old Tom, and there you'll
always find a hearty welcome, and a hearty old couple who'll share with
you what they have, be it good, bad, or indifferent. Here's luck to
you, my boy; and recollect, I means to go to the expense of painting the
sides of my craft blue, and then you'll always know her as she creeps up
and down the river."

"And Jacob," said young Tom;--"I may be a wild one, but I'm a true one;
if ever you want me in fair weather and in foul--good or bad--for fun or
for mischief--for a help, or for a friend in need, through thick or
thin, I'm yours, even to the gallows; and here's my hand upon it."

"Just like you, Tom," observed his father; "but I know what you mean,
and all's right."

I shook hands with them both, and we parted.

Thus did I remove from the lighter, and at once take up the profession
of a waterman; I walked down to the Fulham side, where I found Stapleton
at the door of the public-house, standing with two or three others,
smoking his pipe. "Well, lad, so you're chained to my wherry for two or
three years; and I'm to initiate you into all the rules and regulations
of the company. Now, I'll tell you one thing, which is, d'ye see, when
the river's covered with ice, as it is just now, haul your wherry up
high and dry, and smoke your pipe till the river is clear, as I do now."

"I might have guessed that," replied I, bawling in his ear, "without you
telling me."

"Very true; but don't bawl in my ear quite so loud, I hears none the
better for it; my ears require coaxing, that's all."

"Why, I thought you were as deaf as a post."

"Yes, so I be with strangers, 'cause I don't know the pitch of their
voice; but with those about me I hear better when they speak quietly--
that's human nature. Come, let's go home, my pipe is finished, and as
there's nothing to be done on the river, we may just as well make all
tidy there."

Stapleton had lost his wife; but he had a daughter, fifteen years old,
who kept his lodgings, and _did for him_, as he termed it. He lived in
part of some buildings leased by a boat-builder; his windows looked out
on the river; and, on the first floor, a bay-window was thrown out, so
that at high water the river ran under it. As for the rooms, consisting
of five, I can only say that they could not be spoken of as large and
small, but as small and smaller. The sitting-room was eight feet
square, the two bed-rooms at the back, for himself and