Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 3, 1895 - Travels and Excursions, Volume II

THE STOWAWAYS
change, nearly penniless, and too proud to ask for
more, he set off on foot and walked eighty miles to
Weymouth, hving on the journey as he could. He
would have enlisted, but he was too small for the
army and too old for the navy ; and thought himself
fortunate at last to find a berth on board a trading
dandy. Somewhere in the Bristol Channel, the
dandy sprung a leak and went down ; and though
the crew were picked up and brought ashore by
fishermen, they found themselves with nothing but
the clothes upon their back. His next engagement
was scarcely better- starred ; for the ship proved so
leaky, and frightened them all so heartily during a
short passage through the Irish Sea, that the entire
crew deserted and remained behind upon the quays
of Belfast.
Evil days were now coming thick on the Devonian.
He could find no berth in Belfast, and had to work
a passage to Glasgow on a steamer. She reached the
Broomielaw on a Wednesday : the Devonian had a
bellyful that morning, laying in breakfast manfully
to provide against the future, and set off along the
quays to seek employment. But he was now not
only penniless, his clothes had begun to fall in
tatters ; he had begun to have the look of a street
Arab ; and captains will have nothing to say to a
ragamuffin ; for in that trade, as in all others, it is
the coat that depicts the man. You may hand, reef,
and steer like an angel, but if you have a hole in
your trousers, it is hke a millstone round your
neck. The Devonian lost heart at so many refusals.
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