ive guineas if I
do, and no dinner if I don't: and if I stay here much longer, I shall
get no dinner at all events, for they are all terribly peckish, and
there will be none left."

"Well, if you'll give me one of the guineas, I'll show you how to manage
it," said the midshipman.

"I'll give you two, if you'll only be quick and the goose a'nt all
gone," replied Jack.

The midshipman wrote down the point from which the wind blew, at full
length, upon a bit of paper, and pinned it to the rim of Jack's hat.
"Now," said he, "when you go into the cabin, you can hold your hat so as
to read it, without their perceiving you."

"Well, so I can; I never should have thought of that," said Jack.

"You hav'n't wit enough," replied the midshipman.

"Well I see no wit in the compass," replied Jack.

"Nevertheless, it's full of point," replied the midshipman: "now be
quick."

Our hero's eyes served him well, if his memory was treacherous and as he
entered the cabin door he bowed over his hat very politely and said, as
he read it off, "South West and by West three-quarters West," and then
he added, without reading at all, "if you please, Sir Theophilus."

"Steward," said the Admiral, "tell the officer of the watch to step
down."

"How's the wind, Mr Growler?"

"South West and by West three-quarters West," replied the officer.

"Then, Mr Littlebrain, you have won your five guineas, and may now sit
down and enjoy your dinner."

Our hero was not slow in obeying the order, and ventured, upon the
strength of his success, to send his plate twice for goose. Having
eaten their dinner, drunk their wine, and taken their coffee, the
officers, at the same time, took the hint which invariably accompanies
the latter beverage, made their bows and retreated. As Jack was
following his seniors out of the cabin, the Admiral put the sum which he
had staked into his hands, observing, that "it was an ill wind that blew
nobody good."

So thought Jack, who, having faithfully paid the midshipman the two
guineas for his assistance, was now on the poop keeping his watch, as
midshipmen usually do; that is, stretched out on the signal lockers, and
composing himself to sleep after the most approved fashion, answering
the winks of the stars by blinks of his eyes, until at last he shut them
to keep them warm. But, before he had quite composed himself, he
thought of the goose and the five guineas. The wind was from the same
quarter, blowing soft