Jr. Horatio Alger

“ The blow had been so sudden, that he was quite unprepared for it. Added to this, his apprehensions were vague and indefinite. There seemed something mysterious about the manner in which he had been spirited away, and this thought increased his feeling of discomfort. A danger which can be measured and comprehended in its full extent may be boldly faced, however great, but when we are ignorant of its nature and extent that is not so easy.
Charlie understood as much as this, that it was the intention of Randall to carry him off to sea. ”

“ The latter half rose from his seat, and then, as if he had received a mortal wound sank to the floor.
"You require no other confirmation of my words," said the mate.
"Why my lad, you will be a rich man," said Bill Sturdy, his face beaming with satisfaction.
"How glad mother will be!" exclaimed Charlie. "Where is she, Mr. Randall? I want so much to see her."
The mate gave Charlie briefly the information he required, and added, "You will probably need my assistance to establish your claim to the property of which yonder old man has so long deprived you. ”

“ Nothing stirs up a sailor's heart to opposition so readily as anything which resembles a threat.
Bill Sturdy hastened to reply.
"He is wrong. I don't threaten any of you. I only ask if it is right to play tricks, and abuse a boy who has already been treated so scurvily by the mate. I don't believe there's any one of you that wants to curry favor with Mr. Randall and the captain. Now there is nothing they will like better than to see you kicking round this lad." ”

“ Now it must go to others."
"To others!" exclaimed Peter, turning pale.
"Certainly. You don't think the law gives you whatever you've a mind to steal, do you? Of course there is no doubt that to your tenants, Eleanor and Charlie Codman, belongs this property which you wrongfully hold."
"They sha'n't have it. They never shall have it," said Peter Manson, hastily.
"Well, perhaps the law may have something to say about that."
"My gold!" groaned the miser. "If I lose that I lose everything. It will be my death. Good Mr. Randall, have pity upon me. ”

“ Antonio was already on his knees before the chest. There was a murmur of disapprobation among the crew. They were in favor of fair play, and this undue eagerness to convict our hero of guilt did not commend itself to their sense of justice and generosity. But Antonio cared little for the sensation which his conduct might excite among his fellow-seamen. He cared more for the gratification of his revenge than for personal popularity. ”

“ Years before it had fallen into Peter's hands at a small price, and he had every year since realized from it in the way of rent a sum equal to one half the purchase-money. No one who has lived in a city can help knowing how much more proportionally the poor are compelled to pay for their scanty and insufficient accommodations than the rich, or those in moderate circumstances. No class of property is made to pay a larger percentage than the wretched tenement-houses which seem adapted to furnish as little accommodation as possible to those who are compelled to occupy them. ”

“ No alderman ever smacked his lips over the most exquisite turtle soup with greater relish than Peter Manson over his banquet.
"It is very good," he muttered, with a sigh of satisfaction. "I don't fare so well every day. If it hadn't been for that unlucky piece of gold, perhaps the baker would have let me had another loaf at the same price."
He soon despatched the half loaf which he allotted to his evening meal.
"I think I could eat the other half," he said, with unsatisfied hunger; "but I must save that for breakfast. It is hurtful to eat too much. Besides, here is my sausage." ”

“ So we bid farewell to Charlie Codman. His trials and struggles have come early in life, but now his bark has drifted into smoother waters. The sky above him is cloudless. [304] His character has been strengthened by his combat with adversity. Let us hope that his manhood may redeem the promise of his youth, and be graced by all the noblest attributes of humanity. ”

“ I can tell by his face. A lad, with such a figure-head as that, wouldn't do anything mean or dishonorable."
"You seem to have taken a great fancy to him," sneered Antonio. "You mustn't trust too much to appearances. He looks to me as if he were guilty."
Charlie's cheeks were flushed, but not with shame or confusion. It was indignation, that he should be suspected of such a disgraceful crime.
By his side stood Bill Sturdy, who took an opportunity of whispering into his ear, "Never you mind, my lad, even if the ring is found in your chest." ”

“ How differently the world looks according to the mood in which we view it. No one could have convinced Mrs. Codman, after the reception of this letter, that it was not a perfect paradise. The patient sorrow which her face had worn the day before, gave place to a sweet and happy expression, which made her look quite charming.
"Mrs. Codman is really a beautiful woman," thought Mr. Bowman, as unobserved, he watched her laughing with Bert, glancing over the newspaper which he was supposed to be reading. ”

“ This is not a subject I care to jest upon."
"One thousand dollars! It will take all I have and leave me a beggar."
"If it should, Peter," said his visitor, composedly, "I will procure you admission to the poor-house, where, if I am not much mistaken you will be better off than in this tumble-down old shanty."
"Has the man no mercy?" groaned Peter, wringing his hands.
"None at all."
"Then," exclaimed the miser, in a sudden fit of desperation, "I won't pay you a cent—not a single cent." ”

“ She might repent then, the scorn with which she repelled the suit of John Randall. How I hate that boy! He brings up his father before me. So much the better. When he shrinks beneath the lash, I shall think it is my old rival upon whom it is falling."
Bill Sturdy, meanwhile, said in a low voice to Charlie, "I don't like the looks of the mate this morning. He's hatching mischief of some kind, if I'm not greatly mistaken."
"Against us?"
"That's what I mistrust, my lad; against one or both of us. He hates us both, and I ain't quite sure which he hates the most." ”

“ It was not the mate's harsh voice. Quickly turning round, Charlie's eyes rested on the bronzed but good-humored face of Bill Sturdy, the stout sailor to whom reference has already been made. Whatever may be thought of physiognomy as an index of character, it is undeniable that we are either attracted to or repelled from certain faces. ”

“ The companionship of honest and stout-hearted Bill Sturdy proved a great source of happiness to Charlie, and enabled him to bear up, as otherwise he might have found it difficult to do, under the hardships of his condition, the persecution of the captain and the mate, who had not forgotten their animosity, and the uncertainty he could not but feel as to the situation in which his mother was left, with the painful doubt as to whether she would be able to support herself till he could return and relieve her necessities. ”

“ Charlie sprinkled Peter's face, and a moment after he gasped and opened his eyes. He cast a frightened glance from face to face till his eyes rested on Randall, when he shuddered, and cried feebly, "Take him away, take him away! He will rob me."
"Not while I am here to prevent him," returned Bill, in a tone of assurance.
"You are friends, then?" said the miser, anxiously.
[286]
"Of course we are. Did this man attempt to rob you?"
"Take care not to make any false accusations, old man," said Randall, menacingly.
"Speak the truth without fear," said Bill Sturdy; "I'll bear you out in it. ”

“ I had just got in from a v'y'ge to Calcutta, and happened to see one of my old shipmates, Jim Davis, walking on the wharf. 'Bill,' says he, 'why won't you ship along of me?' I asked him where he was bound, and he telled me to Valparaiso, on board the Bouncing Betsey. Well, I've been most everywhere else, but I had never been there, and reckoned I should like to see it. Besides, I'd got tired of going to Calcutta. I've been there, man and boy, six or eight times. It's too hot to live there some parts of the year. ”

“ At this time there was but one man present besides Randall.
This man was tall, low-browed, with shaggy black eyebrows, and a face on which villainy was stamped in Nature's plainest and most ineffaceable characters.
"There's a man," thought the mate, "that will serve my turn, and, to judge from his looks, will be troubled by no unnecessary scruples on the subject." ”

“ There are none whom the wicked hate so heartily as those whom they have injured. That is something beyond forgiveness.
Mrs. Codman knew that Peter Manson was avaricious, and to this she attributed the increase in the rent. She had no suspicion that he had a particular object in distressing her.
"Surely, Mr. Manson," she remonstrated, "You do not think these rooms worth two dollars a week. It is all we are able to do to raise the rent we now pay."
"Humph!" muttered Peter, avoiding the eye of his tenant, "they are worth all I can get for them." ”

“ You mustn't think I have suffered all the time on board the ship, though it is hard work, and, for some reason, the captain and mate have both been my enemies. I have had one faithful friend, to whom I am very much indebted. He is a rough sailor, and neither educated nor refined, but he has a warm heart, and has been very kind to your boy. Indeed, mother, I don't know how much trouble I should have had, if it hadn't been for honest Bill Sturdy. ”

“ During the previous voyage he had been the bully of the crew, taking advantage of his personal strength. Now they were relieved from his tyranny. In Bill Sturdy he had more than found his match. No one, comparing the two men, could doubt, that in a contest, the odds would be decidedly in favor of Bill. Antonio, for this was his name, for he was a Spaniard by birth, could not help seeing the changed state of affairs. Now no one likes to be eclipsed, and to see the authority passing from his hands into those of another. Certainly Antonio did not behold this transfer with indifference. ”

“ We will not attempt to depict the rage and vexation of Randall and the captain when they ascertained that Bill Sturdy had made his escape from the vessel and taken Charlie with him. For they entertained no doubt from the previous intimacy of the two that they had deserted the ship in company. They instituted as strict a search as they were able, and even offered a reward to any of the crew who should be instrumental in bringing back either, but particularly the boy. None of the sailors, however, would have betrayed our hero, even if they had had the opportunity. ”

“ I've got neither chick nor child, and am not likely to have. I've taken a fancy to you, and the money'll do you more good than me."
"You are very kind," said Charlie, gratefully; "but I mustn't take advantage of your generosity."
"Nonsense, my lad. I know what it is to be a poor boy, without money or friends, and nowadays money will bring friends. Mayhap it'll start you in some business, and when you get rich you can pay me; or if, by and by, I take a notion to come to anchor on shore, you'll give me a corner in your house, where I can smoke my pipe and spin my yarns." ”

“ Randall was placed in an awkward predicament. He could not deny that Charlie was his nephew after his express declaration to that effect, while at the same time the relationship which he claimed was far from exciting, in his own mind, any attachment for the boy. Still it closed his mouth for the time. He only muttered, in an undertone, that the boy must fight his own battles, and disappeared from the deck.
"Fight his own battles!" repeated Sturdy, indignantly. "A pretty sort of an uncle he is, to match a boy of fourteen against a grown man, and a strong one at that. ”

“ She has drawn her chair to the window to make the most of the rapidly fading daylight. As with swift fingers she plies the glistening needle, and the sun touches her cheek with a beaming glow, we can see that not only has she been beautiful, but is still so. ”