"Friends and former messmates. I ain"t much of a speaker, so you"ll excuse my goin" to the pint direct. A n.o.ble lady with lots o" tin an" a warm heart has presented a smack all complete to our Deep-Sea Fishermen Inst.i.tootion. It cost, I"m told, about 2000 pounds, and will be ready to start as a Gospel ship next week. For no reason that I knows on, "xcept that it"s the Lord"s will, they"ve appointed me skipper, with directions to choose my own crew. So, lads, I"ve got you here to ask if you"re willin" to ship with me."
"_I"m_ willin", of _course_," cried Pat Stiver eagerly, "an so"s Bob Lumpy. I"ll answer for him!"
There was a general laugh at this, but Bob Lumsden, who was present, chose to answer for himself, and said he was heartily willing. So said David Duffy, and so also said Joe Stubley.
"I on"y wish," added the latter, "that Jim Freeman was free to j"ine, but Fred Martin"s not likely to let _him_ go, for he"s uncommon fond of him."
"He"s doin" good work for the Master where he is," returned Lockley, "and we"ll manage to catch as true and able a man among the North Sea fleets afore long. There"s as good fish in the sea, you know, as ever came out of it. Our mission smack is to be called the _Welcome_."
"At this rate," observed d.i.c.k Martin, who was one of the party, "we"ll soon have a mission ship to every fleet in the North Sea; that"ll please our Director, won"t it?"
"Ay, it will," said Lockley. "All the same, I heard the Director say only the other day, he wished people would remember that the mission needed funds to keep the smacks a-goin" as well as to build an" launch "em. Howsever, we"ve no need to fear, for when the Master sends the men and the work, He"s sure to find the means."
Two weeks after the date on which this harmonious meeting was held, a new vessel, laden with spiritual treasure, unfurled her sails, shook out her MDSF ensign, and, amid the good wishes, silent prayers, and ringing cheers of sympathetic friends on sh.o.r.e, went forth as a beacon of love and light and hope to irradiate the toilers on the dark North Sea.
Among those cheering and praying ones were Mrs Mooney--a brand plucked from the burning--and fragile Eve, with her weak, thin, helpless body and her robust heart, chosen to do herculean and gladiator service of sympathy and rescue in the Master"s cause. And you may be sure that blooming Isa Martin was there, and her friend Martha Lockley; Manx Bradley, the Admiral, who, with other fishermen, chanced to be having their spell on sh.o.r.e at that time, was also there. Even old Granny Martin was there, in a sense, for she could see from her attic the great blue flag as it fluttered in the breeze, and she called her unfailing-- and no longer ailing daughter to come to the window and look at it and wish it G.o.d-speed; after which she turned her old eyes again to their wonted resting-place, where the great sea rolled its crested breakers beyond the sands.
It remains but to add that the _Welcome_ was received by the fleet to which she was sent with an enthusiasm which fully justified her name, and that her crew found her thenceforth, both as to her sea-going qualities and the nature of her blessed work, a marvellous improvement on their former home, the _Lively Poll_.
Note. The Office of the Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen is 181 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC, at the date of publication of this book.
THE END.