'
"'New 'prentice!' said he, stamping; 'I've got no new 'prentice. My
boys are all aboard already. This is a trick, you young blackguard.
You've run away, you have;' and the captain stamped about the deck and
swore dreadfully; for, you see, the thought of having to stop the ship
and lower a boat and lose half-an-hour, all for the sake of sending a
small boy ashore, seemed to make him very angry. Besides, it was
blowin' fresh outside the harbour, so that to have let the steamer
alongside to put me into it was no easy job. Just as we were passing
the pierhead, where several boats were rowing into the harbour, the
captain came up to me.
"'You've run away, you blackguard,' he said, giving me a box on the
ear.
"'No, I haven't,' said I angrily; for the box was by no means a light
one.
"'Hark'ee, boy, can you swim?'
"'Yes,' said I.
"'Then do it;' and seizing me by my trousers and the nape of my neck,
he tossed me over the side into the sea. The fellows in the boats at
the end of the pier backed their oars on seeing this; but observing
that I could swim, they allowed me to make the best of my way to the
pierhead. So you see, Ralph, that I really did swim my first homeward
voyage."
Jack laughed, and patted Peterkin on the shoulder.
"But tell us about the candle-nut tree," said I; "you were talking
about it."
"Very true," said Jack, "but I fear I can remember little about it.
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