voyage with you? Did they know what kind of a vessel they were embarking
in?"

"Wherever the captain's ready to go he'll always find men ready to follow
him. Bless you, sir, they never asks no questions. If a sailor was always
to be thinking of the chances, he'd never set his foot off shore."

"Still, I don't think it's right they shouldn't know."

"I daresay they knowed all about the old brig as well as I did myself. You
gets to know all about a craft just as you do about her captain. She's got
a character of her own, and she can't hide it long, any more than you can
hide yours, sir, begging your pardon."

"I daresay that's all correct, but still I shouldn't like anyone to say to
me, 'You ought to have told me, captain.' Therefore, you see, I'm telling
you, captain, and now I'm clear.--Have a glass of wine before you go," I
concluded, ringing the bell.

"Thank you, sir. I'll turn over what you've been saying, and anyhow I take
it kind of you."

So we parted. I have never seen him since, and shall not, most likely,
in this world. But he looked like a man that could understand why and
wherefore I spoke as I did. And I had the advantage of having had a chance
of doing something for him first of all. Let no man who wants to do
anything for the soul of a man lose a chance of doing something for his
body. He ought to be willing, and ready, which is more than willing, to do
that whether or not; but there are those who need this reminder. Of many a
soul Jesus laid hold by healing the suffering the body brought upon it. No