I only stood up one more, I should be certain to beat him, and that then I should be Poor Jack forever! The last inducement stimulated me to immense exertion.  We closed and wrestled, and my antagonist was thrown; and, in consequence of the strain he had before received, he could not stand up anymore.  Poor fellow! he was in great pain; he was taken home, and obliged to have a doctor, and an abscess formed in his side.  He was a long while getting well, and, when he came out of doors again, he was so pale.  I was very sorry for him, and we were always the best friends afterward, and I gave him many a halfpenny, until I had an opportunity of serving him.

I mention these two fights because they obtained for me a greater reputation than I deserved:  this reputation perhaps saved me a great deal more fighting, and obtained me the mastery over the other boys on the beach.  Indeed, I became such a favorite with the watermen that they would send the other boys away; and thus did I become, at last, the acknowledged, true, lawful, and legitimate “Poor Jack of Greenwich.”

CHAPTER NINE

     In which I take a Cruise contrary to the received Rules of
     Navigation—­On my Return from a cold Expedition, I meet with a cold
     Reception.

As soon as I was fairly in possession of my office, I gained sufficient money to render me almost entirely independent of my mother.  Occasionally I procured an old jacket or trousers, or a pair of shoes, at the store of an old woman who dealt in everything that could be imagined; and, if ever I picked up oakum or drifting pieces of wood, I used to sell them to old Nanny—­for that was the only name she was known by.  My mother, having lost her lodgers by her ill temper and continual quarreling with her neighbors, had resorted to washing and getting up of fine linen, at which she was very expert, and earned a good deal of money.  To do her justice, she was a very industrious woman, and, in some things, very clever.  She was a very good dressmaker, and used to make up the gowns and bonnets for the lower classes of people, to whom she gave great satisfaction.  She worked very hard for herself and my sister, about whose dress and appearance she was more particular than ever; indeed, she showed as much affection for her as she did ill-will toward me.  To look at me, with my old trousers tucked up above my knees, my ragged jacket, and weatherbeaten cap; and then to see Virginia, so neatly and even expensively dressed, no one could have believed that we were brother and sister.  My mother would always try to prevent Virginia from noticing me, if we ever met when she was walking out with her.  But my sister appeared to love me more and more; and, in spite of my mother, as soon as she saw me, would run up to me, patting my dirty jacket with her pretty little hand; and, when she did so, I felt so proud of her.  She grew up handsomer every day, and so sweet in disposition that my mother could not spoil her.