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CHAPTER II
A SUDDEN STOP
"I don't remember my father very well," said Tommy Todd. "I was real little when he went away. That was just after my mother died. My grandmother took care of me. I just remember a big man with black hair and whiskers, taking me up in his arms, and kissing me good-bye. That was my father, my grandmother told me afterward."
"What made him go away from you?" asked Flossie. "Didn't he like to stay at home?"
"I guess maybe he did," said Tommy. "But he couldn't stay. He was a sea captain on a ship, you know."
"Of course!" cried Freddie. "Don't you know, Flossie? A sea captain never stays at home, only a little while. He has to go off to steer the ship across the ocean. That's what I'm going to do."
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