Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/300

 same size. It was quite laughable to see them stare at me with their small, pink eyes for a second or two and  then scamper away. Soon I was called back into the house, and my shipmate introduced me to his venerable  father and mother and several brothers and sisters. They were all overjoyed at the return of the long-lost boy. They had not heard anything from him since he had left home, seven years before, and his parents had  supposed him dead. I was very kindly treated, and remained with them about two months.

While here, I attended the academy every afternoon, for the trifling expense of one dollar a week. The master was a young lawyer. I also went to singing-school one evening in the week, and to writing-school another. Soon, the master of the academy getting married, a vacation was declared for a month. I had been progressing finely in reading, writing, and singing, so every one said,  and regretted the interference of a vacation.

The time soon arrived when I had to take a final leave of my shipmate, his father, mother, brothers, sisters, and  schoolmates, and return to Boston. Mother and the rest of the family were as glad to see me back as if I had just  returned from a long sea voyage.

Upon investigation, I found only one of the Vincennes' crew in Boston — Samuel Williams — a gunner’s mate, and one of the original crew. He had been shipped over five years, and, with many others, had received more than eight hundred dollars pay. He told me he had then but three hundred left, and that he did not  know what to do with it. Said he had grown tired and lonely being on shore so long, and that the very