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Excerpt:- "There again you guess wrongly," he said, laughing." I'll tell you in a jiffy how the case stands. My friend Hornby is a small shipowner. Among the vessels he is interested in is a little full-rigged ship named the Silver Sea, Shortly after I had been earnestly recommended to try a voyage for my complaint, I met Hornby, and told him I had half a mind to go to sea for a few weeks. Mr Edwards said he, ' strangely enough, do you know, I have partly formed the same intention. I feel stale for the want of a breeze of wind and a wide horizon. If you go, I will. And I'll tell you what,' said he ; ' I have a ship lying in the South-West India Dock which will make us as snug and safe a sea home as any mortal could want for a few weeks ; and if you'll provision her for the run, and pay the wages, and take me with you, you shall have the use of her for six months for nix"
"Nothing could be more liberal,'' said I. "Is she for sale, or lying by for want of a cargo?"
"I fancy she must be for sale," he replied, "to judge from this cutting that he sent me, and which is apparently part of an advertisement." He pulled out his pocket-book and extracted a piece of paper ; then put on his glasses, looked at it, and handed it to me. It was a portion of an advertisement cut from a shipping journal, and pasted on a sheet of note-paper