Though the old gentleman urged every argument to alter Jack’s determination, the boy stood firmly by what he had said. “You are my namesake, the only male representative of our family; neither you nor your mother shall ever want. I have more money than I need.” Many other inducements were offered still the young man insisted upon the course that he laid out for himself. “I am a sailor’s son and have a sailor’s soul; I wish to go to sea,” Jack finally exclaimed. Both of the twins loved Jack. He had been so long in their house and so closely associated with Lucy that he seemed more to them than a remote young kinsman. Finding Jack’s decision unalterable, a compromise was effected on the subject. Jack should sail in one of their coasting ships, and when on shore at Boston continue to make their house his home. Great was the grief of Lucy at parting with her Jack, as she called him. But consoling herself with the thought that she should see him often and that the next autumn she should be obliged to leave Boston for some dreadful seminary and thus they would be separated under any circumstances, she dried her eyes and entered with enthusiasm into his preparations for sea, saying, “I have a good mind to dress up as a boy and go with Jack! I declare I would do it, were it not for grandfather and Uncle John.” Jack’s kit on his first voyage was a marvel in the way of a sailor’s outfit; Lucy had made a bankrupt of herself in the purchase of the most extraordinary handkerchiefs, caps, shirts and things of that kind that could be found in Boston, saying proudly to Mrs. Church when displaying the assortment: “Nothing is too good for my sailor boy.” After several years of sea service Mr. James Dunlap, during the residence of his brother in Haiti, had tendered to Jack a position in the office, hoping that having seen enough of the ocean he would be willing to remain ashore and possibly with a half-formed hope that Jack would win Lucy’s hand and thus the house of Dunlap continue to survive for other generations. Much to the chagrin of Lucy’s grandfather, Jack absolutely refused to entertain the proposition, saying: “I should be of no earthly use in the office. I am not competent to fill any position there, and I positively will not accept a sinecure. If you wish to advance me, do so in the line of my profession! Make me master of your ship Lucy and let me take her for a two years’ cruise in Eastern waters.” Thus it happened that Jack was absent from Boston for two years and returned to find that he had lost that, that all the gold of El Dorado could not replace—the woman whom he loved. V. “Mother Sybella, Mother Sybella! May I approach?” yelled every few minutes the man seated on a rock half way up the hill that rose steep from the Port au Prince highway.