In the Eastern Seas | Page 8

will have the kindness to expend as you think best in
getting a proper outfit for the young people--as I have no doubt they
lost everything when the ship went down; and I should wish, if you will
allow me, to repay you for the expense to which you have been put."
"Thank you, sir," said Mrs Davenport. "We desire no repayment; but I
will gladly expend the money to the advantage of my young friends as
you desire."
"Well, well, do as you like!" exclaimed Mr Tom. "I am very much
obliged to you in every way. And now, good-bye, Emily; good-bye,
Walter; and I wish you farewell, madam. Present my compliments to
your kind husband. I should have liked to have made his acquaintance.
I hope to do so another time. I am deeply indebted to him, for I had a
great regard for poor Harry. Though he might not have been very
wise-- none of us are; and his wife, she was an angel. Good-bye,
good-bye!"
Thus rattling on, Mr Tom Heathfield ran out at the door, and jumped

into his cab; the tiger skipped up behind, and off he drove.
Day after day passed by, and no news came of Mr Tom Heathfield. The
packet he had left behind contained a couple of ten-pound notes, with a
few words written on the paper surrounding them:--"It is all I have got;
but if Constellation wins, I will send another hundred."
Captain Davenport was now again busily engaged in preparing his ship
for another voyage. She required but few repairs, so she was likely to
be soon ready. He had resolved to take his wife and daughter with him;
and Grace was very full of the thoughts of accompanying her father.
Mrs Davenport had made two or three voyages; but Grace had not been
at sea since she was a very little girl.
"I wish I was going too," said Emily; "how delightful it would be!"
"I am sure I wish that I was going!" exclaimed Walter. "I have often
thought I should like to be a sailor; and though I once should only have
wished to go into the royal navy, I should now like to go anywhere
with Captain Davenport."
Week after week passed by. The Bussorah Merchant was ready for sea.
A cabin had been fitted up for Mrs Davenport, and another for Grace.
No news came from Mr Tom Heathfield. Captain Davenport wrote: he
considered it his duty to do so. The day before he sailed, his letter came
back in an enclosure, stating that Mr Tom Heathfield had broken his
neck riding a steeple-chase, and that though he had wished to leave his
property to his young cousin, as all would be swallowed up in paying
his debts, there would be none forthcoming. Walter and Emily felt very
sorry when they heard the sad end of their poor cousin, though Emily
confessed to Grace she was very glad that she had not to go and live
with Lady Di Pierpoint.
"Well, my young friends," said Captain Davenport, "I have no one with
whom I can leave you, and I certainly will not desert you. If, therefore,
Emily would like to come and be Grace's companion, we shall be very
glad of her company; and, Walter, if you wish to come to sea and learn
to be a sailor, I will undertake to instruct you as if you were my own

son."
Walter was truly glad to accept the kind captain's offer; indeed, it
would be difficult to say what else he could do.
"When we return to England," said Captain Davenport, "we will make
more inquiries about your relations, and if they still persist in refusing
to acknowledge you, you will, at all events, have learned a profession,
and be independent of them. After all, you will be far better off than
had you been brought up in idleness, and dependent on those who
might care very little for your true interests and welfare."
CHAPTER THREE.
WALTER HEATHFIELD'S JOURNAL.
The Bussorah Merchant was now ready for sea. Mr Thudicumb was
first mate, as he had been on the previous voyage; Dick Tarbox was
boatswain; young Oliver Farwell was cabin-boy. Merlin, too, who
indeed never left the ship, was on board, and welcomed my sister and
me, whom he recognised the moment we appeared with signs of the
greatest satisfaction. The ship was bound out to the coast of China and
Japan, with a prospect of visiting several other interesting places before
she returned home. I was delighted with the thoughts of all I should see,
and was very glad to find on board several books descriptive of those
regions. The ship came to an anchor at Gravesend, where several
passengers joined her. Among them was