"Sam kep' hes maaster goin' 'pon brandy an' milk for a while; but
wan day he comes in an' finds 'un settin' up in bed an' starin'.
The Commodore was a little purgy, [3] bustious [4] sort o' man, sir,
wi' a squinny eye an' mottles upon hes face pretty near so thick as
the Milky Way; an' he skeered Sam a bit, settin' up there an'
glazin'.
"Th' ould man had no more sproil [5] nor a babby, an' had pretty nigh
lost hes mouth-speech, but he beckons Sam to the bed, and whispers--
"' Sam, you've a-been a gude sarvent to me.'
"'Gude maasters makes gude sarvents,' says Sam, an' falls to cryin'
bitterly.
"'You'm down i' my will,' says the Commodore, 'so you've no call to
take on so. But look 'ee here, Sam; there's wan thing more I wants
'ee to do for your old maaster. I've a-been a Wanderin' Jewel all my
life,' says he, '--wanderer 'pon the face o' the earth, like--like--'
"'Cain,' says Sam.
"'Well, not azackly. Hows'ever, you an' me, Sam, have a-been like
Jan Tresize's geese, never happy unless they be where they bain't,
an' that's the truth. An' now,' says he, 'I've a-tuk a consait I'd
like my ould bones to be carr'd home to Carne, an' laid to rest 'long
wi' my haveage. [6] All the Trounces have a-been berried in Carne
Churchyard, Sam, an' I'm thinkin' I'd like to go back to mun, like
the Prodigious Son.
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