276 WHALING AND FISHING. 



degradation. To return home was the strongest 

 desire of his hearc. But to return home penni- 

 less, after years of hard struggle to be sneered 

 at by those wiseacres whose advice he as a boy 

 had scorned to go back to his n'ative village not 

 only having done nothing heretofore, but with the 

 consciousness that he was now worthless for any 

 other life than that which had grown to be a part 

 of him this he could not do. 



" And so I guess we'll have to rough it in the 

 Indies as long as we can stand it, and when it 

 grows unendurable, Charley, a trip to Batavia 

 will finish poor Jack." 



At first, while yet the cheerful jingle of a few 

 rupees in our pockets kept us in spirits, we could 

 think of nothing but sailing together. But ere 

 long it became evident that even this poor plea- 

 sure would be denied us, and we would be com 

 pelled to look for separate chances. One day I 

 boarded a vessel bound to Arracan, at the head 

 of the bay of Bengal. The captain wanted a sea- 

 conny, and agreed to take me. There was no 

 other chance. Joe and myself would have to 

 part. 



With a rather heavy heart I returned to the 

 shore, to tell him of my questionable luck. The 

 voyage was good, but we did not want to part. 

 We talked matters over. Joe had been some 

 weeks longer on shore than I, and I felt that to 

 him of rigM belonged the first chance, if we were 

 to be parted . Accordingly, I proposed to him to 



