that he 'ad hardly 'ad a day without a blow from one or the other since
he'd been aboard. He'd been knocked down with a hand-spike by the second
mate, and had 'ad a week in his bunk with a kick given 'im by the
boatswain. He said 'e was now on the _Rochester Castle,_ bound for
Sydney, and he 'oped for better times.

That was all they 'eard for some months, and then they got another letter
saying that the men on the _Rochester Castle_ was, if anything, worse
than those on the Seabird, and that he'd begun to think that running away
to sea was diff'rent to wot he'd expected, and that he supposed 'e'd done
it too late in life. He sent 'is love to 'is wife and asked 'er as a
favour to send Uncle Burge and 'is boys away, as 'e didn't want to find
them there when 'e came home, because they was the cause of all his
sufferings.

"He don't know 'is best friends," ses old Burge. "'E's got a nasty
sperrit I don't like to see."

"I'll 'ave a word with 'im when 'e does come home," ses Bob. "I s'pose
he thinks 'imself safe writing letters thousands o' miles away."

The last letter they 'ad came from Auckland, and said that he 'ad shipped
on the _Monarch,_ bound for the Albert Docks, and he 'oped soon to be at
'ome and managing the Blue Lion, same as in the old happy days afore he
was fool enough to go to sea.

That was the very last letter, and some time arterward the _Monarch_ was
in the missing list, and by-and-by it became known that she 'ad gone down
with all hands not long arter leaving New Zealand. The only difference
it made at the Blue Lion was that Mrs. Dixon 'ad two of 'er dresses dyed