ices on board they take their meals with us,
it does them good; and I don't at all approve of their mixing with the men
forward. I should say, Mr. Embleton, get him one good suit for going
ashore, another rougher suit for duty on board, half-a-dozen duck suits
for the tropics, and two or three suits of dungaree for slipping on over
the others when there is dirty work to be done. The cap is sufficient to
indicate the officer. As for the rest of his outfit, your own experience
will tell you what is needed. Railton in Leadenhall Street is a man I can
recommend. He keeps the house badges for the caps, and turns out his work
well. I generally get my togs there, and find him as cheap as anyone."

"Thank you! I will take Steve with me as far as that in the hackney-coach,
and get him measured. Then he can be back here again by the time you knock
off for dinner, and will then put on his slops and get to work."

Steve returned to the lodgings just as the captain and first mate came in
to dinner. Then he carried one of his canvas suits down to the ship, put
it on, and was soon at work having his first lesson in seizing ropes. For
a fortnight the work continued, and Stephen greatly pleased the captain
and first mate by his attention and willingness, working all the time as a
rigger's boy, and paying the greatest attention to all the minutiae of the
work. Saturday afternoons and Sundays he spent at Mr. Hewson's, where his
father was still staying, his host refusing to listen to any talk of his
leaving until the _Tiger_ sailed. Another four days were spent in planing
decks and painting inside and out. The work was scarcely finished when the
cargo began to come on board. As soon as this was the case, the second and
third mates and the other two apprentices joined. Like Mr. Staines, Towel
and Pasley, the second and third mates, had both made their way up from
the forecastle; both were active young men and good sailors, who had
laboriously mastered the very small amount of bookwork that was needed, in
addition to practical seamanship, to pass their examinations, but who,
like the majority of their class of that time, knew nothing of navigation
beyond taking a rough observation at mid-day and working it out by rule of
thumb on the tables. Mr. Staines presented Stephen to them.

"This is our new apprentice," he said; "his father is a lieutenant in the
royal navy, one of Lord Cochrane's men, and a great friend of the owner.
Stephen Embleto