CHAPTER Y. 



RESUMES WORK. 



INSTEAD of going directly back to his work, Edward 

 went down to the harbour to ascertain whether any 

 of the captains would accept of his services as a sailor. 

 He went from ship to ship for three days. Some 

 captains were willing to take him with an inden- 

 ture, which would have to be signed by his father. 

 Others were willing to take him without his father's 

 consent ; but in that case they required two sureties 

 to sign the indenture. These were serious obstacles 

 too serious to be got over, and on the third 

 afternoon he left the harbour with a sorrowful heart. 

 There were several skippers of coasting vessels, 

 and of lime and coal hulks, who would have taken 

 him for four years ; but these were not the kind of 

 ships that he wished to sail in. 



Being thus forced, though very reluctantly, to give 

 up all thoughts of going to sea, he now considered 

 whether it might not be possible to learn some other 

 trade less hateful to him than that of a shoemaker. 

 But his parents would not hear of any change. They 

 told him that his former master was willing to take 

 him back, and to give him a shilling a week more dur- 



