The captain of this ship the
same one that loved little George so well was
drowned not long after that. My little friends,
I cannot help crying when I think that this good captain,
who used to be so kind to the sailors, was lost at
sea. I was not in the ship at the time.
I was in another ship. I got sick of catching
whales, so I did not want to go in a whale-ship any
more.
The ship in which this captain was
sailing was very near the shore, and there were some
high rocks that stood quite down to the edge of the
water. It was foggy at the time. The captain
did not know that the ship was so near the rocks,
because he could not see through the fog. The
wind blew very hard, and blew the ship upon the rocks.
In a minute the ship broke in pieces, and all but
two or three of the men who were in it were lost.
The captain was lost among the rest. So was little
George. When the storm was over, and the wind
stopped blowing, that dear boy was found on the shore,
dead. There was a smile on his face, just such
a smile as he used to have when he was living.
There was a little Bible in his pocket. It was
all wet with salt water. But there was some writing
on one of the leaves which anybody could read.
It said, “This book was given to little George
by his dear mother.”