"I judge from that remark you are fond of racing."
"Yes, my lad, I am, and not above winning a trifle, or losing it."
"I ride in races sometimes."
The skipper turned an admiring glance on him.
"You don't look much like a jockey," he replied.
"I am a gentleman rider. If you care to go down to Lewes the week before
we sail you will see me win a race, I hope."
"Lewes!" exclaimed Seagrave, "that's funny, bless my soul, it's funny. I
was born there, in that glorious town I first saw daylight, or
gas-light."
"Well, this beats all," said Harry Marton, "it is a day of surprises."
"A fellow must be born somewhere," said the skipper, in an apologetic
tone, at which they both laughed.
"Have you been there lately?" asked Jack.
"Not this trip. I was there about twelve months ago, at the races, and
had a look round the old place, but very few people know me now. I
remember I backed a horse called Topsy Turvy, because he belonged to Sir
Lester Dyke. I knew his father, they are a grand old family."
"I rode the horse," said Jack, quietly.
"Belay, there," shouted Seagrave, as he came to a dead standstill and
stared at him, much to the amusement of the passers by. "You rode him,
well, of all the----curious things this beats cock fighting."
"And I am going to ride him again at the next meeting," said Jack.
"The shekels of Job Seagrave go on to that horse," said the skipper,
"and listen to me, young man, if he wins we'll lay in a nice little
stock of dainties for the voyage. The 'Golden Land' is not over well
provisioned, my inside feels like a salt mine sometimes before we touch
land."
"I am going to Brighton to-night," said Jack. "Will you come with me?"
"You mean it, my son?"
"I do, heartily welcome you will be, and you too, Harry."
Harry Marton declined, he had no intention of draining his friend's
slender purse, and, moreover, he had a little affair of his own with a
bright eyed girl he wished to attend to.
They parted at London Bridge, Jack and Captain Seagrave going by the
Brighton train.
"Glorious country this," said the captain, when they had passed Gatwick
and got into the open.
"I am proud of being a Sussex man. I have had some rare fun at Brighton
and Shoreham in my young days. It was there I got my first taste of the
sea, and I liked it so much I stuck to it, but I've done no good at it.
You see I hadn't the chances some of these swell skippers had, but I
made the most of what little I knew. I have been through the mill, I can
tell you, right through the whole boiling lot, from cabin boy to
skipper."
"All the more credit to you," replied Jack.
"That's as it may be, and as how folks think. It's not much to blow
about being captain of a dodgasted old coffin like the 'Golden Land,'
but it's a living and I like it. On land I feel lost, on board I am as
right as a trivet. It strikes me as curious a smart young fellow like
you wants to leave this country and go to such a hole as Freemantle.
You'll soon be sick of it, take my advice and throw it up."
Jack Redland laughed, he liked his bluff, hearty companion, and told him
the reason he was going away.
"That's it, is it?" said Captain Seagrave. "You want to make money and
come back and give it your best girl. Mind you, I don't say that is not
a laudable desire, but are you sure of the party in petticoats? I have
never had much to do with 'em myself, except in a casual way, but what
little I know about 'em makes me steer clear of such craft. They're
dangerous and you never can tell when they 'bout ship and sail clear
away from you. Mind you have her safely in dock before you go, and don't
let her come out until you return."