found dead on the sand. Lance never forgave himself for having taken his
comrade's offer; he disliked the village, he hated the sea; and before
long he went away inland to work down in the pits.




THE CABIN-BOY.


The master of a smack was lately accused of having murdered an
apprentice; so the mob made desperate attempts to lynch the prisoner
every time he was brought before the magistrates. They heard that the
dead boy used to be beaten with ropes'-ends, kicked, dragged along the
deck, drenched with cold water, and subjected to other ingenious modes
of discipline, and they were horrified. Yet only a few years ago no
surprise or indignation greeted a skipper who habitually ill-used his
cabin-boys. If screams were heard coming from a collier in the Pool, the
men in neighbouring vessels scarcely took the trouble to turn round.
They know that some unhappy boy was being corrected; and they believed
in stripes and bruises as necessary agencies in nautical education. When
a weakly lad chanced to die he was dropped overboard, and there was an
end of the matter; the strong lads who lived through these brutalities
grew into fine sailors.

Times are altered. The old-fashioned sailor is an extinct creature, and
modern conditions have developed a totally new variety. The
old-fashioned sailor was brought up in an atmosphere of rough cruelty;
the new-fashioned sailor will submit to no tyranny whatever. The
old-fashioned skipper was very like the Hull culprit in habits and