THE FATTED CALF. 



13 



New Bedford English (eyes again, utterly distract- 

 ing) or I'll — ! " 



" But," the Prodigal answered, " you've not yet 

 heard the story. Listen. The ' old man ' is the 

 captain (they always call him so on shipboard) ; 

 1 putting one's watch in soak ' is not a sea-term at 

 all ; and the story is really about me, and it's told 

 in the only language I know, for I've lived in the 

 cabin like a fine gentleman. You must remember 

 that the boy's not allowed to go before the mast. 



" So, here goes." He was now under way. He 

 would forge ahead, all fluking, without further 

 interruption. 



" After we'd been about six months out from 

 home, we anchored at Porter's, one of the Galla- 

 pagos Islands, and there we found an old apple- 

 bowed, square-sterned, painted-ported bark, the 

 Surprise, of Wilmington, Cap'n Crocker. Next 

 morning the two old men — Crocker and my own 

 cap'n — gave liberty on shore for all hands, ex- 

 cept cooks, stewards, and boys, to hunt terrapin, 

 if you call that liberty. After they had landed, 

 the old man and Crocker called us boys and took 

 us ashore to help them try and catch a seal. 

 Mighty glad we were to go. 



" We landed on a little island, only three miles 

 round and covered with woods. It was high and 

 very rugged. 



