Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/239

 "And you were cook?"

"You 've hit the nail fair on the head," replied the sailor, with a look of surprise.

"Well, now, that is most remarkable," said Robin, "for I was born on board of that very ship."

"You don't mean it," said Johnson, looking eagerly at our hero. "Was you really the babby as was born to that poor miserable sea-sick gentleman, Mr. Wright—you 'll excuse my sayin' so—in the middle of a thunder-clap an' a flash o' lightnin' as would have split our main-mast an' sent us to the bottom, along wi' the ship, if it hadn't bin for the noo lightnin' conductor that Mr. Harris, the inventor, indooced our skipper to put up!"

"Yes, I am that very baby," said Robin, "and although, of course, I remember nothing about the thunder and lightning, or anything else, my father and mother have often told me all about it, and the wonderful deliverance which God mercifully sent when all hope had been given up. And many a time did they speak of you, Johnson, as a right good fellow and a splendid cook."

"Much obleedged to 'em," said Johnson, "an' are they both alive?"

"They were both alive and well when I left England."

"Come now, this is pleasant, to meet an old ship-mate in such pecooliar circumstances," said the