human
O captain, it’s a larger vessel than this! Don’t you suppose they would take us aboard? If there is going to be a storm, I would rather be in a large vessel; this is such a little egg-shell.
gpt
Egg-shell! not a bit of it. But I’d like nothing better than to get rid of you. I don’t want passengers to look out for in a gale. My little smack has rode out many a storm, but I’d rather be alone with my one man.
human
Oh, ask them! beg them!
gpt
Tell them we’ve got money to pay with,
human
Here are two boys, sea-sick and scared; storm coming; no accommodation. Can you take them off my hands?
gpt
We are bound out,
human
Never mind where they are bound, tell him, said Ralph, pulling the captain’s arm;
gpt
We’ve no room for passengers,
human
Nor I neither, grumbled the captain of the smack.
gpt
I ought to have knowed better than to take ’em; then aloud he added,
human
They’ll die of fright on my hands if there comes a tough gale.
gpt
Who are they?
human
Two young scamps that belong to a school that’s gone on Whaleback to camp. Leastways that’s what I guess.--Isn’t it so, boys?
gpt
Yes.
human
How did you know we belonged to that school? and how did you know where they were going to camp?
gpt
I guessed at one and heard the other. They told me on the wharf that Bernard’s school was going to camp on Whaleback; and when that boat came by, and you two ran for the cabin so sudden like and kept so still, I put two and two together and made four easy enough without a slate or pencil.
human
That’s because you are an old tar,
gpt
But I haven’t figgered out yet what you wanted to run away from that crowd for! It seems to me if I was a fellow of your age I’d rather go to camp than go aboard a fishing-smack and be sea-sick and scared to death.
human
You had some reason, I suppose. I’d really like to know it. Tell me truly now--were you lying when you said your folks were willing you should come?
gpt
We didn’t say just that. We said they didn’t expect us home for a month, and they don’t, said Ralph; then, regardless of Ben’s frown of disapproval, he added,
human
I’ll tell you how we happened to leave them. I did a mean thing--a shabby joke that didn’t turn out the way I meant--and then when Mr. Bernard told the boy who did it to stand, I didn’t dare to.
gpt
Of course you didn’t!
human
No ’of course’ about it! said the captain abruptly.
gpt
An honest boy never gets out of a scrape in a mean way.
human
Well, I know it now, but I didn’t dare to stand up. And then he pulled the line tighter by telling any one who knew the boy who did the mischief to stand; and Joe Chester was the only fellow that confessed to knowing. He gave us several chances on that, and tried to shame us out of lying; and at last, as long as Joe Chester wouldn’t tell, Mr. Bernard said unless the other fellow confessed, Joe would have to lose his camping-out time with the crowd.
gpt
Did you own it?
human
Not then. I felt meaner than dirt; but I was afraid I’d be expelled. It went on that way till the night before the school left for the island; then I couldn’t stand it to have Joe left behind, and I up and wrote a note and left it for Mr. Bernard, confessing all.
gpt
And what did you have to do with it, Ben?
human
I? Oh, I knew about it, but I wasn’t going to tell on Ralph.
gpt
Then you got behind me to keep out of their way, said Captain Dare.
human
Well, what is going to be the end of it all?
gpt
None of us know, and that’s a fact, boys! But it ought to be a lesson to you to keep truth on your side. Lies never pay.
human
So I believe,
gpt
I begin to think so too, said Ben.
human
Anyhow, these didn’t.
gpt
Now’s the time to take a fresh start, then; and I hope we’ll all of us live so we can be glad to have the Lord see all we do and hear all we say,--yes, and know all we think, too. That’s the tough part--the heart is such a queer thing. Sometimes it looks all fair and smooth, and we feel pretty well satisfied with ourselves; but just dig down a little way and we’ll find a lot of rubbish there we are ashamed of. The only way is to keep it open for the Lord to look through all the time.
human
Well, good-night, boys; keep up good courage. The _Una_ is a tough little boat, and has rode out many a stiff gale.
gpt
She’s such a little thing to fight against big waves and strong wind,
human
Yes; when I’m down in that cabin I feel as if there was no more than a paper wall between us and the other world,
gpt
Less than that, boy, less than that. There’s only a breath ’twixt us and the other world any time, on sea or on land. What’s the difference, as long as God’s hand holds on to us? I feel just as safe as my little grand-baby does in his crib,
human
I don’t, said Ben in a low tone;
gpt
I’d give all I own, and all my father owns too, if I was near enough the shore to jump on it. I’d be willing to make a long leap too.
human
Good-night,
gpt
Good-night,