o help me put on my
clothes, and when there be a sea runnin' and the ship do roll a bit I
can't sleep for the pain in my j'ints. So, Mr Marshall, I may 's well
give 'e notice, here and now, so's you'll ha' plenty of time to look
about 'e for another cap'n."

"Dear me, dear me! I am very sorry to hear that, Cap'n," exclaimed Mr
Marshall. "But," he continued, "ever since the declaration of the
embargo I have been thinking what I would do with the _Bonaventure_ in
the event of her escaping from the Spaniards, and I had almost decided
to lay her up until the dispute is settled one way or the other. Now if
you stay ashore until that time arrives, and take care of yourself,
perhaps you will find yourself quite able to take command of her again
when she next goes to sea."

"No," asserted Burroughs decisively; "I ha' made up my mind, and I'll
stick to it. The sea's no place for a man afflicted as I be. Besides,
I ha' done very well in the matter o' they private ventures that you've
allowed me to engage in; there's a very tidy sum o' money standin' to my
credit in Exeter Bank, and there's neither chick nor child to use it
a'ter I be gone, so I might so well enjoy it and be comfortable for the
rest o' my days, and at the same time make way for a younger man. Now,
there be Garge," he continued, lowering his tone. "'Tis true that he be
but a lad; but he'm a sailor to the tips of his fingers; he'm so good a
seaman and navigator as I be; he've a-got coolness and courage when they
be most needed; he knoweth how to handle a crew; he've got the gift of
tongues; and--he'm a gentleman, which is a danged sight more than I be.
You might do a mort worse, Mr Marshall, than give he the _Bonaventure_
when next you sends her to sea."

"H'm! do you really think so?" returned the merchant. "He is very
young, you know, Captain; too young, I think, to bear the responsibility
attending the command of such a ship as the _Bonaventure_. But--well, I
will think it over. Your recommendation of course will carry very great
weight with me."

"Ay, and so't ought to," retorted the blunt-spoken old skipper. "I've
served you now a matter of over thirty years, and you've never yet had
to find fault wi' my judgment. And you won't find it wrong either in
that there matter o' Garge."

After which the subject was dropped, and the pair proceeded to the
discussion of various matters which have no bearing upon the present
history.

Meanwhile, durin