know I shall be a fool to take you, and if I really thought I had any
chance to speak of I should not do so; but though I am going to try, I
don't expect for a moment that I shall succeed. I feel that really it
would be a comfort to have someone with me upon whom I could rely in such
a life as I should have to lead. It certainly would be lonely work for one
man. The only doubt in my mind is whether it will be fair to you--you have
got your profession."

"But I can go back to it if nothing good turns up, Harry. I can visit the
firm and tell them that I am going to travel with you for a bit, and hope
that on my return they will take me back again and let me finish my
apprenticeship. I should think they would be rather glad, for they always
build and never buy ships, and it will take them six months to replace the
_Stella_. Besides, it will do me a lot of good. I shall pick up Spanish--
at least, I suppose that is the language they speak out there--and shall
learn no end of things. As you know, we trade with the west coast of
America, so I should be a lot more useful to the firm when I come back
than I am now."

"Well, I will think it over, and let you know in the morning. I must
certainly consult Mr. Barnett, for he is your trustee as well as mine. If
we go I shall work my way out. It will be a big expense, anyhow, and I
don't mean, if possible, to draw upon my capital beyond three or four
hundred pounds. I believe living is cheap out there, and if I buy three or
four mules I shall then have to pay only the wages for the muleteers, and
the expenses of living. Of course I shall arrange for my income and half-
pay to be sent out to some firm at Lima. Now, you had better go off to
bed, and don't buoy yourself up with the belief that you are going, for I
have by no means decided upon taking you yet."