“It’s a resk taking a raw boy—”
“I know a man who did more for me.”
“That’s diff’runt. Look at here naow, I ain’t recommendin’ Dan special because he’s my own flesh an’ blood. I know Bank ways ain’t clipper ways, but he hain’t much to learn. Steer he can—no boy better, if I say it—an’ the rest’s in our blood an’ get; but I could wish he warn’t so cussed weak on navigation.”
“Airheart will attend to that. He’ll ship as boy for a voyage or two, and then we can put him in the way of doing better. Suppose you take him in hand this winter, and I’ll send for him early in the spring. I know the Pacific’s a long ways off—”
“Pshaw! We Troops, livin’ an’ dead, are all around the earth an’ the seas thereof.”
“But I want you to understand—and I mean this—any time you think you’d like to see him, tell me, and I’ll attend to the transportation.