ve observed how ill he looks, very different from what he was when I
saw him first on my last voyage. If you will let me take him a trip I
will bring him back safe and sound, the dangers of the sea excepted, and
better able by far than he is now to attend to your interests."

Mr Fluke declined to give a positive answer. He would see if the boy
could be spared; he was very useful in the office, and it would be
difficult to get any one to supply his place.

"I will come for a reply to-morrow," said Captain Aggett, as he took his
departure.

"Well, are you going to let our Owen make a voyage?" asked Kezia when
Mr Fluke came home. "There are plenty of captains who would be ready
to take the boy. He would be able to make himself as useful to them as
he is to you, and you would be at no cost."

Mr Fluke, however, only gave Kezia the same reply he had to Captain
Aggett.

"I tell you, before long he'll leave the place vacant whether you like
it or not," observed Kezia in a firm voice, looking sternly at her
master.

"You must have your own way, Kezia," answered Mr Fluke, turning his
head aside to avoid her gaze, as a dog does when scolded. "If the boy
wishes to go, he may go, but I'll not send him off against his will."

Owen was called in and told of Captain Aggett's offer. He acknowledged
that he wished to accept it.

"You have been very kind to me, sir," he said, "and I do not wish to
leave you, but I should like to make a voyage and see something of the
world, and I feel as if it would set me up. When I come back I hope to
be of more use to you than ever."

So it was settled. Mr Fluke never drew back when he had once made a
promise, and next day, when Captain Aggett called, Mr Fluke told him
that he might take Owen, and that he himself would defray any expenses
to which he might be put on the boy's account.

Owen wrote immediately to his friends at Fenside.

John, who replied, expressed their anxiety for the dangers to which he
would be exposed on a long voyage, but if it was considered to be for
his good, they would not urge him to remain on shore, and would pray
earnestly that he might be preserved from all the perils of the deep.

Kezia desired him to ascertain from Captain Aggett what articles were
required for his outfit; and immediately on obtaining a list, set to
work to prepare all that lay within her province.

CHAPTER FOUR.

The day arrived for Owen to go on board the "Druid." She was