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ONE! Gone where?" asked the captain, with a frown of annoyance.

"I met him on the wharf and he said he'd left the ship, sir," Dave replied.

Suddenly the captain's face wore a smile. The situation appeared to amuse him.

"What d' you know about that!" he said, with a deep laugh. "You 'll get on, son, if you 're always as smart as this. Come back and talk to me in a week. From what I can see of you, I reckon you 'll fill the billet, but I'm too busy to waste time on you now. Come along next Thursday, and then I'll run the rule over you."

Dave's heart beat a little faster than usual as he walked home. Nothing had been farther from his mind earlier in the day than definitely to ask