EARLY YEARS 17 



An elderly spinster with white hair presided 

 over the domestic side of the Walker establish- 

 ment. She was kind and good, and lavished on 

 the young apprentices a little of the feminine 

 care of which they were deprived. James Cook, 

 with his loyal and honest face, and his good man- 

 ners, rapidly gained the favour of the old house- 

 keeper. One evening he begged her to give him 

 a candle and let him remain after dinner in the 

 room where he and his comrades had their meals. 

 In reply to the amazement of the lady, little ac- 

 customed to such requests, he explained to her, 

 blushing, that he had bought a book on arithme- 

 tic and one on geography. From this day for- 

 ward, every evening in winter, by the light of a 

 smoking candle, James Cook read alone, at a 

 corner of the big table, far into the night. 



After several voyages in the Freelove, James 

 Cook joined a new collier of 600 tons, the Three 

 Brothers, upon the rigging of which he had 

 worked himself. In the Three Brothers he made 

 the usual trips along the shores of the North 

 Sea. He even went to Norway. His knowledge 

 of seamanship became daily more accurate, 

 wider and deeper. 



At the end of his three years' apprenticeship 

 he was promoted to what seemed to him the 

 exalted rank of ordinary seaman. Sober and 



