London as soon as they reached Liverpool.

"Now," said Kitwater, as they stood together at the wharf with the
pitiless English rain pouring down upon them, wetting them to the skin,
"what we have to do is to find Gideon Hayle as soon as possible."



CHAPTER I

It has often struck me as being a remarkable circumstance that, in nine
cases out of ten, a man's success in life is not found in the career he
originally chose for himself, but in another and totally different one.
That mysterious power, "force of circumstances," is doubtless
responsible for this, and no better illustration for my argument could
be found than my own case. I believe my father intended that I should
follow the medical profession, while my mother hoped I would enter the
Church. My worthy uncle, Clutterfield, the eminent solicitor of
Lincoln's Inn Fields, offered me my Articles, and would possibly have
eventually taken me into partnership. But I would have none of these
things. My one craving was for the sea. If I could not spend my life
upon salt water, existence would have no pleasure for me. My father
threatened, my mother wept, Uncle Clutterfield prophesied all sorts of
disasters, but I remained firm.

"Very well," said my father, when he realized that further argument was
hopeless, "since you must go to sea, go to sea you certainly shall. But
you mustn't blame me if you find that the life is not exactly what you
anticipate, and that you would prefer to find yourself on dry land
once more."