In fact, the skipper was just going on board to
return to the Tyne.
Within an hour, therefore, Lieutenant Fairburn was afloat once more,
to his great joy. On the voyage he learnt many things from the old
captain. Squire Blackett was in very bad odour with the men of the
district. For years his business had been falling off, and he had been
dismissing hands. Now his health was failing; he was unable or
unwilling to give vigorous attention to his trade, and he talked of
closing his pit altogether. The colliers of the neighbourhood were
desperately irritated, and to a man declared that, with anything like
energy in the management, the Blackett pit had a fortune in it for any
owner.
The well-known wharf was reached, a wharf vastly enlarged and
improved, however, and George sprang ashore impatiently. Leaving all
his belongings for the moment, he strode off at a great rate for home,
rather wondering how it was that he did not see a single soul either
about the river or on the road. He rubbed his eyes as he caught a
sight of his boyhood's home. Like the wharf, the house had been added
to and improved until he scarcely recognized the spot at all. "Father
must be a prosperous man," was his thought. Opening the door without
ceremony, he entered.
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