CHAPTER II.

THE SKIPPER.


The little boy slept brokenly that night. Bronze statues flitted through
his dreams, sometimes frowning darkly on him, folding him in an iron
clasp, dragging him down into the depths of roaring whirlpools;
sometimes, still stranger to say, smiling, looking on him with kindly
eyes, and telling him that the sea was not so far away as he thought,
and that one day he should see it and know the sound of it. His bed was
a white schooner,--there seemed no possible doubt of that; it tossed up
and down as it lay by the wharf; and once the lines were cast off, and
he was about to be carried away, when up rose the crew that he had
rescued from shipwreck, and cried with one voice, "No! no! he shall not
go!" The voice was that of Mr. Endymion Scraper, and not a pleasant
voice to hear; moreover, the voice had hands, lean and hard, which
clutched the boy's shoulder, and shook him roughly; and at last,
briefly, it appeared that it was time to get up, and that if the boy
John did not get up that minute, like the lazy good-for-nothing he was,
Mr. Scraper would give him such a lesson as he would not forget for one
while.

John tumbled out of bed, and stood rubbing his eyes for a moment, his
wits still abroad. The water heaved and subsided under him, but
presently it hardened into the garret floor. He staggered a few steps,
as the hard hand gave him a push and let him go, then stood firm and
looked about him. Gradually the room grew familiar; the painted bed and