Page:Silver Shoal Light.djvu/317

 "Far—away from—the sea?" Garth quavered at last.

"Not very near, I'm afraid," said Jim. "Nothing would be just like this, you know."

"I can't," sobbed Garth. "I can't go—away from—the sea."

"Sometimes people have to do things when they think they can't," said Jim.

"But I'd d-die. I couldn't ever like any other place, not if I lived to be a hundred and f-fifty."

"Listen, dear old man," Jim said; "you want to be a sea-captain, and you can't be. But you can help me to be one. If you and Mudder stayed here, I couldn't go and help to beat the Germans. We'll have to go away from our Light, and I love it as much as you do, Pem. You'll have to go to town, far away from the sea and ships; you'll have to bear a lot of things that will be pretty stiff, and you must cheer Mudder up, too. And you'll be doing your bit and helping me while I'm doing mine. I'll be on the bridge of a destroyer, and your quarterdeck will be a room in town, but you'll be just as much on duty there as though you were standing beside me, and I expect you to do your duty."