"No, no; no more coopering for me; I be done with barrels for good
and all. I be going to sea."

"To sea! What ever made you think of such a thing?"

"One thing and another. And I won't be the first, not even from
such an upland place as Shrewsbury. Why, haven't we heard Mistress
Hind tell time and again how her brother John Benbow ran away to
sea nigh upon thirty years ago?"

"True, and so did Sam Blevins, and hasn't been heard of since,
Joe."

"Well, if Vetch ships me to the plantations you may be sure no more
will be heard of Joe Punchard, so 'tis as broad as 'tis long."

"'Tis all my fault, Joe. If I hadn't run into the shop this
wouldn't have happened, and you'd have worked out your 'dentures,
and maybe risen to be a partner with Mr. Mark. I wish I had let
them catch me, Joe, I do."

"Now don't you take on, Master Humphrey. As for partners, I be sick
of making barrels for other folks' beer, that's the truth, and by
what I've heard there's riches to be picked up in the Indies, and
many a sea captain is a deal better off than Matthew Mark. And I'm
set on trying it, lad, the more so as, by long and short, I dursn't
stay in Shrewsbury no longer. So you'll be so good as go and see
the old mother tomorrow, and tell her I be gone to sea, and I'll
send her home silks, and satins, and diamonds, too, maybe, and I'll