to take a room
ashore with them and mind their money, giving 'em what 'e called a
moderate amount each day.

They would ha' laughed at any other man, but they knew that old Isaac was
as honest as could be and that their money would be safe with 'im, and at
last, after a lot of palaver, they wrote out a paper saying as they were
willing for 'im to 'ave their money and give it to 'em bit by bit, till
they went to sea agin.

Anybody but Ginger Dick and Peter Russet or a fool would ha' known better
than to do such a thing, but old Isaac 'ad got such a oily tongue and
seemed so fair-minded about wot 'e called moderate drinking that they
never thought wot they was letting themselves in for, and when they took
their pay--close on sixteen pounds each--they put the odd change in their
pockets and 'anded the rest over to him.

The first day they was as pleased as Punch. Old Isaac got a nice,
respectable bedroom for them all, and arter they'd 'ad a few drinks they
humoured 'im by 'aving a nice 'ot cup o' tea, and then goin' off with 'im
to see a magic-lantern performance.

It was called "The Drunkard's Downfall," and it begun with a young man
going into a nice-looking pub and being served by a nice-looking barmaid
with a glass of ale. Then it got on to 'arf pints and pints in the next
picture, and arter Ginger 'ad seen the lost young man put away six pints
in about 'arf a minute, 'e got such a raging thirst on 'im that 'e
couldn't sit still, and 'e whispered to Peter Russet to go out with 'im.

"You'll lose the best of it if you go now," ses old Isaac, in a whisper;
"in the next picture there's little frogs and devils sitting on the edge
of the pot as 'e goes to drink."

"Ginger Dick got up and nodded to Peter."

"Arter that 'e kills 'is mother with a razor," ses old Isaac, pleading
with 'im and 'olding on to 'is coat.

Ginger Dick sat down agin, and when the murder was over 'e said it made
'im feel faint, and 'im and Peter Russet went out for a breath of fresh
air. They 'ad three at the first place, and then they moved on to
another and forgot all about Isaac and the dissolving views until ten
o'clock, when Ginger, who 'ad been very liberal to some friends 'e'd made
in a pub, found 'e'd spent 'is last penny.

"This comes o' listening to a parcel o' teetotalers," 'e ses, very cross,
when 'e found that Peter 'ad spent all 'is money too. "Here we are just
beginning the evening and not a farthing in our pockets."

The