At seventeen he learnt, somewhat to his surprise, that his education was finished.  His father provided the information and, simply as a matter of form, consulted him as to his views for the future.  It was an important thing to decide upon at short notice, but he was equal to it, and, having suggested gold-digging as the only profession he cared for, was promptly provided by the incensed captain with a stool in the local bank.

[Illustration:  “A stool in the local bank.”]

He occupied it for three weeks, a period of time which coincided to a day with his father’s leave ashore.  He left behind him his initials cut deeply in the lid of his desk, a miscellaneous collection of cheap fiction, and a few experiments in book-keeping which the manager ultimately solved with red ink and a ruler.

A slight uneasiness as to the wisdom of his proceedings occurred to him just before his father’s return, but he comforted himself and Kate with the undeniable truth that after all the captain couldn’t eat him.  He was afraid, however, that the latter would be displeased, and, with a constitutional objection to unpleasantness, he contrived to be out when he returned, leaving to Mrs. Kingdom the task of breaking the news.

The captain’s reply was brief and to the point.  He asked his son whether he would like to go to sea, and upon receiving a decided answer in the negative, at once took steps to send him there.  In two days he had procured him an outfit, and within a week Jack Nugent, greatly to his own surprise, was on the way to Melbourne as apprentice on the barque Silver Stream.

He liked it even less than the bank.  The monotony of the sea was appalling to a youth of his tastes, and the fact that the skipper, a man who never spoke except to find fault, was almost loquacious with him failed to afford him any satisfaction.  He liked the mates no better than the skipper, and having said as much one day to the second officer, had no reason afterwards to modify his opinions.  He lived a life apart, and except for the cook, another martyr to fault-finding, had no society.

In these uncongenial circumstances the new apprentice worked for four months as he had never believed it possible he could work.  He was annoyed both at the extent and the variety of his tasks, the work of an A.B. being gratuitously included in his curriculum.  The end of the voyage found him desperate, and after a hasty consultation with the cook they deserted together and went up-country.

Letters, dealing mainly with the ideas and adventures of the cook, reached Sunwich at irregular intervals, and were eagerly perused by Mrs. Kingdom and Kate, but the captain forbade all mention of him.  Then they ceased altogether, and after a year or two of unbroken silence Mrs. Kingdom asserted herself, and a photograph in her possession, the only one extant, exposing the missing Jack in petticoats and sash, suddenly appeared on the drawing-room mantelpiece.