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ans flattering at her ear had nursed this quality highs and spoiled her with all their might。 A similar process had been applied to her boy Frederick from infancy; he was now nearly six。 Arrogance and caprice shone so in both their sallow faces; and spoke so in every gesture; that as they came on board; Sharpe; a reader of passengers; whispered the second mate: 〃Bayliss; we have shipped the devil。〃
〃And a cargo of his imps;〃 grunted Mr。 Bayliss。
Mr。 Fullalove was a Methodist parsonto the naked eye: grave; sober; lean; lank…haired。 But some men are hidden fires。 Fullalove was one of the extraordinary products of an extraordinary nation; the United States of America。 He was an engineer for one thing; and an inventive and practical mechanician; held two patents of his own creating; which yielded him a good income both at home and in Great Britain。 Such results are seldom achieved without deep study and seclusion; and; accordingly; Joshua Fullalove; when the inventive fit was on; would be buried deep as Archimedes for a twelvemonth; burning the midnight oil: then; his active element predominating; the pale student would dash into the forest or the prairie; with a rifle and an Indian; and come out bronzed; and more or less be…panthered or be…buffaloed; thence invariably to sea for a year or two。 There; Anglo…Saxon to the backbone; his romance had ever an eye to business; he was always after foreign mechanical inventionshe was now importing a excellent one from Japanand ready to do lucrative feats of knowledge: thus he bought a Turkish ship at the bottom of the Dardanelles for twelve hundred dollars; raised her cargo (hardware); and sold it for six thousand dollars; then weighed the empty ship; pumped her; repaired he; and navigated her himself into Boston harbour; Massachusetts。 On the way he rescued; with his late drowned ship; a Swedish vessel; and received salvage。 He once fished eighty elephants' tusks out of a craft foundered in the Firth of Forth; to the disgust of elder Anglo…Saxons looking on from the shore。 These unusual pursuits were varied by a singular recreation: he played at elevating the African character to European levels。 With this view he had bought Vespasian for eighteen hundred dollars; whereof anon。 America is fertile in mixtures: what do we not owe her? Sherry cobbler; gin sling; cocktail; mint julep; brandy smash; sudden death; eye openers。 Well; one day she outdid herself; and mixed Fullalove: Quaker; Nimrod; Archimedes; Philanthropist; decorous Red Rover; and What Not
The passenger boats cast loose。
〃All hands make sail。〃
The boatswain piped; the light…heeled topsmen sped up the rathines and lay out the yards; while all on deck looked up as usual to see them work。 Out bellied sail after sail aloft; the ship came curtseying round to the southward; spread her snowy pinions high and wide; and went like a bird over the wrinkled seahomeward bound。
It was an exhilarating start; and all faces were brightbut one。 The captain looked somewhat grave and thoughtful; and often scanned the horizon with his glass; he gave polite but very short answers to his friend Colonel Kenealy; who was firing nothings in his ear; and sent for the gunner。
While that personage; a crusty old Niler called Monk; is cleaning himself to go on the quarter…deck; peep we into captain Dodd's troubled mind; and into the circumstances which connect him with the heart of this story; despite the twelve thousand miles of water between him and the lovers at Barkington。
It had always been his pride to lay by money for his wife and children; and; under advice of an Indian friend; he had; during the last few years; placed considerable sums; at intervals; in a great Calcutta house; which gave eight per cent for deposits: swelled by fresh capital and such high interest; the hoard grew fast。 When his old ship; sore battered off the Cape; was condemned by the company's agents at Canton; he sailed to Calcutta; intending to return thence to England as a passenger。 But while he was at Calcutta; the greatest firm there suspended payment carrying astonishment and dismay into a hundred families。 At such moments the press and the fireside ring for a little while with the common…sense cry;* 〃Good interest means bad security。〃 As for Dodd; who till then had revered all these great houses with nautical or childlike confidence; a blind terror took the place of blind trust in him; he felt guilty towards his children for risking their money (he had got to believe it was theirs; not his); and vowed; if he could only get hold of it once more; he would never trust a penny of it out of his own hands again; except; perhaps; to the Bank of England。 But should he ever get it? It was a large sum。 He went to Messrs。 Anderson & Anderson; and drew for his fourteen thousand pounds。 To his dismay; but hardly to his surprise; the clerks looked at one another; and sent the cheque into some inner department。 Dodd was kept waiting。 His heart sank with him: there was a hitch。
*The Duke of Wellington (the iron one) is the author of this saying。
Meantime came a Government officer; and paid in an enormous sum in notes and mercantile bills; principally the latter。
Presently Dodd was invited into the manager's room。
〃Leaving the country; Captain Dodd?〃
〃Yes; sir。〃
〃You had better take some of your money in bills at sight on London。〃
〃I would rather have notes; sir;〃 faltered Dodd。
〃Oh; bills by Oliveira upon Baring are just as good; even without our endorsement。 However; you can have half and half。 Calcutta does but little in English bank…notes; you know。〃
They gave him his money。 The bills were all manifestly good。 But he recognised one of them as having just been paid in by the civilian。 He found himself somehow safe in the street clutching the cash; with one half of his great paternal heart on fire; and the other half freezing。 He had rescued his children's fortune; but he had seen destruction graze it。 The natural chill at being scraped by peril soon passed; the triumphant glow remained。 The next sentiment was precaution: he filled with it to the brim; he went and bought a great broad pocket…book with a key to it; though he was on dry land;。 he covered it with oiled silk against the water; and sewed the whole thing to his flannel waistcoat; and felt for it with his hand a hundred times a day: the fruit of his own toil; his children's hoard; the rescued treasure he was to have the joy of bringing home safe to the dear partner of all his joys。
Unexpectedly he was ordered out to Canton to sail the _Agra_ to the Cape。 Then a novel and strange feeling came over him like a cloud; that feeling was; a sense of personal danger: not that the many perils of the deep were new to him: he had faced them this five…and…twenty years: but till now they were little present to his imagination: they used to come; be encountered; be gone: but now; though absent; they darkened the way。 It was the pocket…book。 The material treasure; the hard cash; which had lately set him in a glow; seemed now to load his chest and hang heavy round the neck of his heart。 Sailors are more or less superstitious; and men are creatures of habit; even in their courage。 Now David had n