HARRY ON BOARD THE ‘CHIEFTAIN,’ 21

ing old Mammy. When I told Captain Willis
afterwards, he was highly amused with the notion,
and said that I might just as well try to find a
needle in a bundle of hay as to look for the old
woman’s son on the coast of Africa.

The day of parting from my poor sisters and
our noble-hearted nurse arrived. I did not expect
to feel it so much as I did, and I could then under-
stand how much grief it caused them,

‘Cheer up, Harry,’ said Captain Willis, as the
‘Chieftain,’ under all sail, was standing down the
Mersey. ‘You must not let thoughts of home
get the better of you. We shall soon be in blue
water, and you must turn to and learn to be a
sailor. By the time you have made another voy-
age or so I expect to have you as one of my
mates, and, perhaps, before you are many years
older, you will become the commander of a fine
craft like this,’

I followed the captain’s advice, and by the
time we had crossed the line I could take my trick
at the helm, and was as active aloft as many of the
elder seamen on board.

SESS