mouth of the Thames. Clem and I became great friends. The
more I saw of him the more I liked him, and wondered how so
well-mannered a lad could be the son of such a man as Captain Grimes.

I saw nothing of London. I should, indeed, have been ashamed to go on
shore in my now thoroughly begrimed condition. We were but a short time
in the Thames, for as soon as we had discharged our cargo we again made
sail for the Tyne.

Before this time old Growl, the mate, had taught me what starting meant.
He had generally a rope's end in his fist, and if not, one was always
near at hand. If I happened not to do a thing well enough or fast
enough to please him, he was immediately after me, laying the rope
across my shoulders, or anywhere he could most conveniently reach. I
generally managed to spring out of his way, and turn round and laugh at
him. If he followed me, I ran aloft, and, as I climbed much faster than
he could, I invariably led him a long chase.

"I'll catch you, youngster, the next time. Mark me, that I will," he
shouted out to me one day, when more than usually angry.

"Wait till the next time comes, mate," I sang out, and laughed more
heartily than before.

The men sympathised with me, especially Dirty Dick. His shoulders, till
I came on board, had been accustomed to suffer most from the mate's ill
temper. Now and then old Growl, greatly to his delight, caught me
unawares; but, suffering as I did from his blows, I never let him see
that I cared for them, and used to laugh just as heartily as when I had
escaped from him. On this, however, he would grin sardonically, and
observe, "You may laugh as you like, young master, I know what a rope's
end tastes like; it's a precious deal bitterer than you would have me
fancy. I got enough of it when I was a youngster, and haven't forgotten
yet."

One day when old Growl had treated me as I have described, and had gone
below, Clement came up to me. "I am so sorry the mate has struck you,
Brooke," he said. "It's a great shame. He dare not hit me; and when I
told father how he treats you, he told me to mind my own business, and
that it was all for your good."

"I don't know how that can be," I answered; "but I don't care for it, I
can assure you. It hurts a little at the time, I'll allow, but I have
got used to it, and I don't intend to let him break my spirit or make me
unhappy."

Clement all the time was doing his best to teach me what he knew, and I
soon