"Eh, surely, mayster, you--you--you've not been--"
"Oh, no, no," laughed Frank; "set your mind at rest, Jacob; I'm a
thorough teetotaller now, and have been ever since you left."
"And mean to be so still, I hope, mayster."
"I hope so," was the reply. "But you have not heard my news, Jacob.
I'm thinking of going home; not home to Adelaide, but back across the
sea again--home to England."
"Indeed, Mayster Frank. Well, I'm not so sorry to hear it."
"Are you not?" said his master, with a look of disappointment. "I
thought you might have been. At any rate, I shall be sorry to lose
_you_, Jacob, for you've been more like a brother than a servant to me;
though, it's true, you'll not be much of a sufferer by losing me."
"Ay, but, Mayster Frank, there's no reason why either on us should lose
t'other. I haven't forgotten what you did for me on board ship; and
I'll serve ye still here or in the old country, till you can find one
as'll suit you better."
"Jacob, you're a good fellow," replied his master; "you shall be my
servant, then, and we will go back to Old England together. I'll tell
you just how it is. My dear mother wants me home again--it seems she
can't be content without me; and as there really is no special reason
why I should remain in the colony--and certainly I haven't been much of
an ornament to it, nor credit to my friends here--I think it better to
meet her wishes and return."
"And I'll go with you, with all my heart," said the other; "only then
you mustn't think, mayster, as it's all on your own account as says so;
it wouldn't be honest to let you think so. Truth is, I've been having a
talk wi' a good minister as came a-preaching where we were on the
Sabbath up at the diggings; and he's opened my eyes a bit; or, rather,
the Lord's opened 'em through him. So you see, I've been asking him
what's my duty about them as I've left at home, and it seems to me, by
what the good man says, as I haven't dealt by 'em quite as I should.
It's a long story, and I needn't trouble you with it; but it just comes
to this: I came back from the diggings with my mind made up to go home
again first opportunity. So, you see, mayster, as you're going
yourself, I can go with you all right now."
"And do you know, Jacob--or rather, I'm pretty sure that you don't know,
that your old friend, Captain Merryweather, has been to Adelaide. He's
gone to Melbourne now, but he'll be back in a month, and we can take our
passage home in the dear old _Sabrina_."