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' He did. And I detected him taking a hasty squint at my
certificate just before, because clearly till he did so he was not sure
of my christian name. "Now then come round in front of the desk,
Charles," says he in a loud voice.
"Charles! At first, I declare to you, it didn't seem possible that he
was addressing himself to me. I even looked round for that Charles but
there was nobody behind me except the thin-necked chap still hard at his
writing, and the other three Shipping Masters who were changing their
coats and reaching for their hats, making ready to go home. It was the
industrious thin-necked man who without laying down his pen lifted with
his left hand a flap near his desk and said kindly:
"Pass this way."
I walked through in a trance, faced Mr. Powell, from whom I learned that
we were bound to Port Elizabeth first, and signed my name on the Articles
of the ship _Ferndale_ as second mate--the voyage not to exceed two
years.
"You won't fail to join--eh?" says the captain anxiously. "It would
cause no end of trouble and expense if you did.


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