98 CAPTAIN COOK 



to welcome him outside the town and of accom- 

 panying him in his entry. Cook, greatly touched 

 by this courteous attention, spoke of his first ar- 

 rival in Whitby after his flight from the aged 

 grocer of Staithes. He asked to be taken to his 

 first patrons, John and Henry Walker, to whom 

 he owed much of the success of his seafaring 

 career. They met him with genuine delight. 

 They had warned the old housekeeper, her from 

 whom Cook had once requested a corner of the 

 table and a candle by which to read in the winter 

 evenings, to bear in mind that the former ship's 

 boy had become a Commander in the Royal 

 Navy, and that he must be treated accordingly. 

 The excellent lady promised that she would be 

 very circumspect and respectful to James Cook, 

 for whom she had always kept a warm place in 

 her heart. She declared that she would make 

 him her best bow. But when Commander Cook 

 appeared, the housekeeper, forgetting all her 

 promises, opened her arms wide and cried, 

 "James, my dear, how glad I am to see you!" 

 The eagerness with which Cook embraced the 

 old lady silenced the reproaches which sprang to 

 the lips of the two brothers. 



When Cook had doubled Cape Horn, he had 

 kept on southwards in search of the great south- 

 ern continent, then supposed to exist, and the 



