ch
a fine, stout, elderly-looking man appeared, dressed in plain clothes.
Ronald sprang aft, and grasped his hand.

"Father, I little expected to see you. Where have you come from?"

"From Malta last," answered Rolf Morton. "I went out there to look for
you. When I arrived home in the old `Lion,' and was paid off, I applied
for and obtained my discharge from the service. I found that I had made
a mistake in going to sea the last time. It did not suit me. I felt,
too, that for your sake as well as my own, it would be better for me to
live in a private capacity on shore. You are a lieutenant, and may soon
be a commander. It would stand in your way in society to have it said
that your father was a boatswain; not that you would be ashamed of me, I
am sure, but we cannot make people wiser, we must take them as they are.
Besides, I am more at liberty to attend to the subject you wrote to me
about. I am not very sanguine of success, but still it would be
satisfactory, for your sake, to discover after all that I was of good
family, and to find some relations for you."

After Rolf Morton had talked for some time with his son, Lord Claymore
sent for him. He had heard from the commander of the brig that he had
retired from the service. He shook him warmly by the hand.

"It will be pleasant for you to be together, and as the brig has to
return immediately, I shall be glad if you like to remain on board.
Your son, I doubt not, can put you up."

Rolf Morton thanked the captain for his kindness. It was the very thing
he wished. He wanted to be for some time with Ronald, and to talk to
old Doull and Eagleshay, to ascertain what they knew about his early
days.

Most of the prisoners taken in the felucca were sent to Malta, but
Captain Tacon was kept on board the frigate, as Lord Claymore considered
that he might assist in clearing up the matter in which he was so much
interested, and be made useful in other ways, from his knowledge of the
coast and of the towns and villages near it.

Rolf was naturally eager to see Doull and Eagleshay. The two old men
were sent for. Their astonishment was very great when they were told
that he was the boy they had carried off from Shetland nearly fifty
years before. He assured them that he clearly recollected the
circumstance, and that two of the men were tall, like them, and that
there was one much older and shorter. They both looked at him very
earnestly for some time. At las