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Ralph Granger's Fortunes by William Perry Brown
page 69 of 218 (31%)
after which they took breakfast at the restaurant where they had
procured their supper.

About nine o'clock Captain Shard arrived in his buggy from his home in
the suburbs.

"Come in here, Ralph," said he, as Emmons took the horse. "I want to
have a talk with you."

He led the way into the office, closed the door, and fixed his eyes
intently on Ralph, who followed. Then he frowned, appeared to ponder
for a moment, and finally cleared his brow as he looked up again.

"How would you like to follow the sea for a living?" he at length
demanded.

"Follow the sea?" repeated Ralph as if he hardly comprehended. "Do you
mean how would I like to be a sailor?"

"Something of the kind. You would begin as cabin boy, probably. If
you are smart and willing you would soon climb up higher. By the time
you are eighteen, you should be an A 1 seaman, earning at least twenty
dollars a month and your keep."

Among the few books the boy had somehow got hold of in the mountains,
one of the most treasured was a copy of Marryat's "Midshipman Easy."
He felt a thrill now, as he pictured himself in a position to emulate,
in a measure, some of the adventures therein so graphically depicted.
The distant ocean held up to his anticipation the stirring pleasures of
a life on the wave, while veiling from his boyish ignorance its
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