Now, sir here am I, without
a sitiwation; without any want of wages for a year to come; for I saved
up (I didn't mean to do it, but I couldn't help it) at the Dragon--here
am I with a liking for what's wentersome, and a liking for you, and
a wish to come out strong under circumstances as would keep other men
down; and will you take me, or will you leave me?'
'How can I take you?' cried Martin.
'When I say take,' rejoined Mark, 'I mean will you let me go? and when I
say will you let me go, I mean will you let me go along with you? for go
I will, somehow or another. Now that you've said America, I see clear at
once, that that's the place for me to be jolly in. Therefore, if I don't
pay my own passage in the ship you go in, sir, I'll pay my own passage
in another. And mark my words, if I go alone it shall be, to carry out
the principle, in the rottenest, craziest, leakingest tub of a wessel
that a place can be got in for love or money. So if I'm lost upon the
way, sir, there'll be a drowned man at your door--and always a-knocking
double knocks at it, too, or never trust me!'
'This is mere folly,' said Martin.
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