Cheap Jack

“ You have Major Bilkins's check-book with you?"
"Yes," said Jack. "He threw it at me yesterday, and I've had it ever since."
"Good!" said the squeaky little voice. "What is the old man's balance?"
"Three million five hundred and seventy-five thousand four hundred and fifty-seven dollars," said Jack, reading off the figures slowly, and gasping at the thought of anybody's having so much money as that on hand.
"H'm!" said the squeaky little voice. "It is rather less than I had thought. [Pg 12] However, we can fix that without much trouble. Zeros are cheap. Just add six of them to that balance." ”

“ I put my hand in my pocket, took out a sixpence which I had received, and held it up between my thumb and finger. “Won’t I?”
“You oudacious boy! that’s the way you’re spoiled by foolish people giving you money.”
“Good bye, mother.” So saying, I leaped over the board fixed up at the door, and was again down at the beach. Indeed, I was now what is termed a regular Mud-larker, picking up halfpence by running into the water, offering my ragged arm to people getting out of the wherries, always saluting them with, “You haven’t got never a half penny for poor Jack, your honour?” ”

“ Girls like keepsakes, old women like money."
"Well, mother, sell them if you please; they are your own."
"Sell them? let me see—yes, I think I know where there is a sort of curiosity-shop, in Church Street; but it's a long way to walk, Jack, and that—let me see," continued she, counting the different articles, "one, two, three—seven times, Jack."
"But why not take them all at once?"
"All at once, you stupid boy! I should get no more for two than for one. No, no; one at a time, and I may make a few shillings. Well, Jack, it's very kind of you, after all, so don't mind my being a little cross. ”

“ Drownlands contemplated her steadily. He saw her, in her anguish of mind, twine and untwine her long fingers, then pluck at and strip off chips of the table where he had broken it, put them between her teeth and bite them, but still with lowered brow and eyes that she could not raise for shame. He could see flushes pass over her, succeeded by deadly pallor. It was as though flames were flickering about her head, shooting up and enveloping throat and cheek and brow, then dying down and leaving a deathly cold behind. A soul in this present life was prematurely suffering its purgatory. ”

“ Still, I do not care for your entering the sarvice so young. It would be better that you were first apprentice and learned your duty; and as soon as your time is out, you will be pressed, of course, and then you would sarve the King. I see no objection to all that."
"But why do you want so particularly to go to sea, Jack?" observed Anderson.
"I don't like being a beggar—begging for halfpence!" replied I.
"And Spicer told you that you were a beggar?" said Peter.
"He did."
"Jack, if that is the case, we are all beggars; for we all work, and receive what money we can get for our work. ”

“ There was no joking about it, I can assure you."
"Well, father, I hope I may be able to save more than seven shillings before I die; but no one knows. I have made my decision as I think for the best, and we must leave the rest to Providence. We never know whether we do right or wrong."
"Never, Jack; things which promise well turn out bad, and things which look very bad often turn out just as well. I recollect an instance which was told me, which I'll give you as a proof that we never know what is best for us in this world. ”

“ Putting his hand in his pocket, the prince gave the woman all he had left, so that after their day’s food, which cost what small store Jack had by him, they were without a penny between them.
When the sun got low, the king’s son said: “Jack, since we have no money, where can we lodge this night?”
But Jack replied: “Master, we’ll do well enough, for I have an uncle lives within two miles of this place; he is a huge and monstrous giant with three heads. He’ll fight five hundred men in armour, and make them to fly before him.” ”

“ He even had the boldness to think of gaining both bags; but suddenly recollecting himself, he began to fear that the giant would sham sleep, the better to entrap any one who might be concealed.
⁠When the giant had counted over the gold till he was tired, he put it up, if possible, more secure than he had put up the sliver before; he then fell back on his chair by the fireside, and fell asleep. He snored so loud, that Jack compared his noise to the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide is coming in. ”

“ Now Jack loved his mother; besides, he felt just a bit sneaky at being such a big boy and doing so little to help, so he said, "Cheer up! Cheer up! I'll go and get work somewhere." And he felt as he spoke as if he would work his fingers to the bone; but the good woman shook her head mournfully.
"You've tried that before, Jack," she said, "and nobody would keep you. You are quite a good lad but your wits go a-wool-gathering. No, we must sell Milky-White and live on the money. ”

“ Well, perhaps I have a little—a very little; but no one will ever find out where I have hidden it."
"But they will try, mother, as this man has done, and you will always be in peril of your life. Why not place it in the hands of some safe person?"
"Safe person! Who's safe nowadays?"
"Why, for instance, there's Mr. Wilson."
"Wilson! what do you know about him, Jack, except that he has a smooth face and a bald head? You're young, Jack, and don't know the world. The money's safe where it is, and no one will ever find it." ”

“ Jack was careful with his money, and, at Sam’s suggestion, left most of it with the treasurer of the show. For there were many temptations to spend money when on the road, and Jack had more than once declined to gamble or spend his cash for drinks or cigars.
“I never saw such a tight-wad as you are,” said Ted Chester one day, when he had invited Jack to [153] enter a card game with him. “Why don’t you loosen up a bit?”
“I don’t care to waste my money gambling,” replied Jack. “I’ve got a better use for it. Why don’t you play with some of the other fellows?” ”

“ The sight of him had the same effect on the dull man of ordinary life that the Himalayan air has on an Indian invalid; and yet Jack was head-over-heels in debt. Not a tradesman would trust him. Shoals of little bills were sent him every day. Duns without number plagued him from morning to night. The Quebec attorneys were sharpening their bills, and preparing, like birds of prey, to swoop down upon him. In fact, taking it altogether, Jack had full before him the sure and certain prospect of some dismal explosion. ”

“ As the giant appeared to be in a more profound sleep than usual, Jack soon determined, got out of the copper, and seized the harp. The harp was enchanted by a fairy: t called out loudly — “Master! master!”
⁠The giant awoke, stood up, and tried to pursue Jack; but he had drank so much that he could hardly stand. Poor Jack ran as fast as he could; in a little time the giant recovered sufficiently to walk slowly, or rather to reel after him; had he been sober he must have overtaken Jack instantly; but, as he then was, Jack contrived to be first at the top of the bean-stalk. ”

“ I do not wonder at my poor father's senses being dazzled, for, as he said to me, "You see, Jack, after being used to see nothing but Point women, all so slack in stays and their rigging out of order, to fall aboard of a craft like your mother, so trim and neat, ropes all taut, stays well set up, white hammock-cloths spread every day in the week, and when under way, with a shawl streaming out like a silk ensign, and such a rakish gaff topsail bonnet, with pink pennants ”

“ Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags of money (which were his very own, because the Giant had stolen them from his father) , he ran off, and with great difficulty descending the Beanstalk, laid the bags of gold on his mother's table. She had just returned from town, and was crying at not finding Jack.
'There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father lost.'
'Oh, Jack! you are a very good boy, but I wish you would not risk your precious life in the Giant's castle. ”

“ To have the faintest idea of the emotions that agitated the squire at sight of Jack and the shoes full of coin,—the wrath, the surprise, the avarice,—one must have seen him as he stood there, or have heard Jack (as I have heard him many times) describe the grim and frowning figure that met his eyes.
“What’s this, what’s this, eh?” cried Peternot, taking a stride forwards. “Money! on my land!” and the gray eyes glittered. “Ha! ha! This, then, is the meaning of all that talk about treasure-trove the other day!” ”

“ I had talked the matter over with Virginia, who, although she did not like that I should go away, had agreed with me that she objected to my begging for money. I waited very impatiently for the time that Anderson had appointed, and, at last, he and my father came together, when the former said:—
“Well, Jack, it appears that you do not like to be a waterman, and that you have no great fancy for a man-of-war, although you have a hankering for the sea. ”

“ There are competitors for every place, even the most humble; and there was no want of competitors for this office among the many idle boys who frequented the beach. When I first plied there, I was often pushed away by those who were older and stronger than myself, with a "Go along with you! He's not poor Jack—I'm poor Jack, your honor." This, at first, I submitted to; taking my chance for a stray halfpenny, which was occasionally thrown to me, trusting to my activity in being the first down to the boat, or to my quickness in a scramble. ”

“ And there was Jack confidently expecting at least twenty-five dollars to purchase a birth-day present for Clara. Jack loved to make presents, and the deeper he got into debt, the more presents did he bestow on his friends. Such another whole-souled fellow as he was, to be sure.
But I pocketed the disappointment along with the money and went straightway to the menagerie. There was quite a little crowd about Jack's cage, standing at a respectful distance. In his capacity as the real African gorilla, Jack had just avenged himself on a dangerous rival by snatching off his matchless wig. ”

“ Be kind, we implore you, to Poor Jack, wherever you meet him, for he would shed the last drop of blood in his veins to defend you! Make every Christian allowance for his follies and his sins when ashore. Do all you can—and we think you might do much if you would—to ameliorate his physical condition, and you will improve his moral one at the same time. For ourselves, we can only say that we ever shall own Poor Jack as a messmate and a brother, and while we have a shot in the locker, he shall freely share it, God help him! ”

“ Yes, boys, I hope it is for the love of pluck, the pride of 'grit,' that I value this thing. I hope it is not greed, not avarice, not—"
"Never!" interrupted Jack's ringing voice. "Never any greed of gold in you, Larry. You best and bulliest of men alive, but I am glad the gold is yours. You deserve every ounce of it," and Jack was clinging to his handsome young uncle's other hand with a heartiness that rang as true as the nuggets lying at his feet. ”

“ I've got one dollar, but I must have some more;" and Jack looked worried as he fingered the little gold dollar on his watch-guard.
"Oh, do you mean to use that?"
"Yes, I do; a man must pay his debts if he sells all he has to do it," said Jack sternly.
"Dear me; it must be something very serious." And Jill lay quite still for five minutes, thinking over all the ways in which Jack ever did earn money, for Mrs. Minot liked to have her boys work, and paid them in some way for all they did. ”

“ Do you suppose he is hungry?"
"No," said Jack; "if he were he would say so." He was careful not to speak bitterly, and she noticed nothing.
"I believe," she said, "that he is about to make another ascension. He often stays a long time in his room, alone, before he is ready. Will it not be delightful? I shall perhaps be permitted to go up with him. Don't you wish you might go with us?"
"Yes," said Jack, with a little more earnestness than he intended.
"Oh! you do? If you are very good, perhaps—perhaps—but I dare not promise. If it were my balloon I would take you." ”

“ With Chook's share they had decided to take Jack Ryan's shop in Pitt Street just round the corner from Cardigan Street. It was a cottage that had been turned into a shop by adding a false front to it. The rent, fifteen shillings a week, frightened Chook, but he reserved ten pounds to stock it with vegetables, and buy the fittings from Jack Ryan, who had tried to conduct his business from the bar of the nearest hotel, and failed. If the money had run to Jack's horse and cart, their fortunes would have been made. ”

“ The people at the Chequers managed it all. Excellent people they are. I owe them some money, which I shall have great pleasure in paying as soon as possible. No man can pay it sooner.'
The dinner, however, went off with the greatest success. Happy Jack was happier than ever, and consequently irresistible. Every two or three minutes he lugged in something about his household gods and the desolation of his hearth, evidently enjoying the sentiment highly. ”

“ Sometimes I would perceive a lovely countenance, beaming with pity and compassion at our rags and apparent wretchedness, and then the money thrown to me gave me much more pleasure; but the major portion of those who threw us silver for their own amusement would not have given us a farthing, if we had asked charity for the love of God.
It must not, however, be supposed that I gained the enviable situation of Poor Jack until I had been some time on the beach. There are competitors for every place, even the most humble ”