Читать книгу Wrecked on Spider Island; Or, How Ned Rogers Found the Treasure онлайн

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“I’d like to ship on this brig if you need a boy.”

“What can you do?”

“Almost anything in the cabin; but I don’t believe I’d make much of a fist goin’ aloft.”

“So you’re no sailor, but want to go to sea?”

“I had rather stay on shore, sir; but I can’t get a job, so made up my mind to try it aboard ship if any one is willin’ to take a green hand.”

“What about wages?”

“I’ll leave that to you, sir, providin’ I can have advance enough to give me a decent fittin’ out. These clothes I’ve got on are all I own, an’ I reckon more’n them will be needed before the brig gets back.”

“Would you like to ship as cabin-boy?”

“At what wages, sir?”

“Ten dollars a month and an advance of two months’ wages out of the slop-chest.”

Ned did not understand that by taking his outfit from the vessel’s stores he might be forced to pay a great deal more than the same articles would cost ashore, and readily engaged on those terms.

“Here, Mr. Stout, see that this boy gets what he needs from the chest, and then set him to work cleaning up the cabin,” the captain said to the first officer, and the latter motioned for Ned to follow him.