found that the man who had been my father's right hand for twenty
years had been cheating him all along. We got on well enough as long
as I could give all my time in the shop; but he is no good with the
pen--all he can do is to enter receipts and sales.

"He has a man under him, who helps him in measuring out the right
length of canvas and cables or for weighing a chain or an anchor, and
knows enough to put down the figures; but that is all. Then there are
the two smiths and the two apprentices; they don't count in the
matter. Robert Ashford, the eldest apprentice, could do the work, but
I have no fancy for him; he does not look one straight in the face as
one who is honest and above board should do. I shall have to keep a
clerk, and I know what it will be--he will be setting me right, and I
shall not feel my own master; he will be out of place in my crew
altogether. I never liked pursers; most of them are rogues. Still, I
suppose it must come to that."

"I have a boy come in to write my bills and to make up my accounts,
who would be just the lad for you, Captain Dave. He is the son of a
broken-down Cavalier, but he is a steady, honest young fellow, and I
fancy his pen keeps his father, who is a roystering blade, and spends
most of his time at the taverns. The boy comes to me for an hour,
twice a week; he writes as good a hand as any clerk and can reckon as
quickly, and I pay him but a groat a week, which was all he asked."

"Tell him to come to me, then. I should want him every day, if he
could manage it, and it would be the very thing for me."

"I am sure you would like him," the other said; "he is a good-looking
young fellow, and his face speaks for him without any recommendation.