Jack at Sea Part 3

"Neither do I," said the doctor; "it's past mending. We must have a new coat, Jack."

"You mean a new boy, Doctor Instow," said the lad, smiling sadly. "Had you not better let me be?"

"No," cried Sir John, bringing his fist down heavily upon he table.

"That won't do, Jack. We've done wrong, taken the wrong turning, and we must go back and start afresh--eh, Instow?"

"Of course," said the doctor testily, "and give me time. I've got plenty of ideas, but I want to select the right one. Ah! I have it."

"Yes," cried Sir John eagerly, and his son looked at him in dismay.

"That's the very thing. Right away from books and the ordinary routine of life--fresh air of the best, fresh people, fresh scenes, constant change; everything fresh but the water, and that salt."

"Some country place at the seaside," said Sir John eagerly.

"No, no; bore the boy to death; make him miserable. Seaside! No, sir, the whole sea, and get away from the side as soon as possible."

"A sea voyage!" cried Sir John; and his son's face contracted with horror.

"That's the thing, sir. You have always been grumbling about the narrowness of your sphere, and envying men abroad who send and bring such fine collections home. Be off together, and make a big collection for yourselves of everything you come across worth saving."

"Yes; but where?"

"Anywhere--North Pole; South Pole; tropics. Start free from all trammels, open new ground away from the regular beaten tracks. You don't want to go by line steamers to regular ports. Get a big ocean-going yacht, and sail round the world. Here, what are you grinning at, patient?"

"At your idea, sir. It is so wild."

"Wild to you, sir, because you are so tame. It may have seemed a little wild for Captain Cook and Bougainville and the old Dutch navigators, with their poor appliances and ignorance of what there was beyond the seas. Wild too for Columbus; but wild now! Bah! I'm ashamed of you."

"You must recollect that Jack is no sailor," said Sir John, interposing.

"He was very ill when we crossed to Calais."

"Ill! A bit sea-sick. That's nothing."

"I am not sailor enough to manage a yacht."

"What of that? Charter a good vessel, and get a clever captain and mate, and the best crew that can be picked. You can afford it, and to do it well, and relieve yourself of all anxieties, so as to be free both of you to enjoy your cruise."

"Enjoy!" said Jack piteously.

"But the responsibility?" said Sir John thoughtfully. "I should like it vastly. But to take a sick lad to sea? Suppose he were taken worse?"

"Couldn't be."

"Don't exaggerate, doctor. Fancy us away from all civilised help, and Jack growing far weaker--no medical advice."

"I tell you he would grow stronger every day. Well, take a few boxes of pills with you; fish for cod, and make your own cod-liver oil, and make him drink it--oil to trim the lamp of his waning life and make it burn.

He won't want anything of the kind--rest for his brain and change are his medicines."

"I dare not risk it," said Sir John sadly, and Jack's face began to light up.

"Well then, if you must do something foolish, take a doctor with you."

"Ah, but how to get the right man?"

"Pooh! Hundreds would jump at the chance."

Jack sighed, and looked from one to the other, while Sir John gazed hard at the doctor, who said merrily--

"There, don't sit trying to bring up difficulties where there is nothing that cannot be surmounted. What have you got hold of now?"

"I have not got hold of him. I am only trying to do so."

"What do you mean?"

"The doctor. Will you go with us, Instow?"

"I?" cried Doctor Instow, staring. "Only too glad of the chance. I'm sick of spending all my days in the sordid practice of trying to make money, when the world teems with wonders one would like to try and investigate. If I did not know that I was doing some little good amongst my fellow-creatures, my life would be unbearable, and I would have thrown it all up long ago."

"Then if I decide to follow out your advice, you will come with us?"

"No," said the doctor firmly; "it would not do."

Jack brightened up again.

"Why would it not do?" said Sir John anxiously. "The plan is excellent, and I am most grateful to you for the suggestion. Come with us, Instow, for I certainly will go."

Jack groaned.

"Look at him," cried the doctor. "There's spirit. The sooner you get to sea the better."

"Yes, I have decided upon it, if you will come."

"No, no; impossible."

"Because of leaving your practice?"

"Oh no; I could arrange that by having a _loc.u.m tenens_--'local demon'

as the servant-girl in _Punch_ called him."

"Then what objection is there?"

"Why, it's just as if I had been planning a pleasure-trip for myself at your expense."

"That's absurd, Instow, and an insult to an old friend. Look here, if you will come I shall look upon it as conferring a great favour upon us.

We shall both be under a greater obligation to you than ever."

"I say, don't tempt me, Meadows. I'm not a bad doctor, but I'm a very weak man."