PART I

THE FIRST CHAPTER

THE COBBLER'S SON

MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At
that time Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran
through the middle of it; and over this river there was a very
old stone bridge, called Kingsbridge, which led you from the
market-place on one side to the churchyard on the other.

Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near
the bridge. I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading
the ships upon the river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as
they pulled upon the ropes; and I learned these songs by heart.
And I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling over the
water and sing with the men, pretending to myself that I too was
a sailor.

For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they
turned their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the
river again, across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed
to go with them out into the world to seek my fortune in foreign
lands--Africa, India, China and Peru! When they got round the
bend in the river and the water was hidden from view, you could
still see their huge brown sails towering over the roofs of the