f his account book,
and had every reason to be satisfied with his success. His excitement
had moderated, and he looked upon the Fawn as a new blessing, and in his
heart thanked God, from whom all his blessings came.

He regarded his fortune as already made, for little by little, he felt
sure of achieving it.

CHAPTER XI.

PAUL'S FIRST CRUISE IN THE FAWN.

At breakfast time the next morning, John Duncan was among the missing.
His mother had charged him, when he first got up, to study his Sunday
school lesson, which, in the extraordinary excitement of the preceding
evening, had been neglected. Paul searched for him in their chamber, and
in all the other apartments of the house; but he was not to be found.

Neither Paul nor his mother had any fears that he had run away or
committed suicide; so that his absence produced more of indignation than
alarm.

"He must have gone down to the boat," suggested Mrs. Duncan.

"If he has, I will throw him overboard."

"O, no, my son! you would not do that."

"He has no business on board the boat on Sunday."

"That is very true, Paul; but I suppose he cannot keep his thoughts away
from her. I don't much wonder, either."

"I don't know as I am very much surprised myself," added Paul, whose
second thought was more reasonable than the first.

When he considered how many times his thoughts had wandered to the
beautiful Fawn, and how many times he had permitted himself to
anticipate the pleasure of the first cruise in her, during the morning,
he was more charitable towards his younger brother, who had only done
what he had thought.

"I will find him," said Paul, taking his cap.

"Don't be harsh with him, Paul, for he means right, only he has not so
much strength of mind as you have."

"I won't be hard upon him."

"Because you are older than he is."

"I won't be a hypocrite, mother, and I may as well own that, while
getting my lesson, I could not help thinking of the new boat. I don't
want you to believe I am better than I am."

"It is very natural that you should think of her; but you must try not
to do so. It is almost a pity the boat had not come on Monday, so that
you could have had a whole week to think about her before Sunday."

Paul ran down to the beach, and discovered that the door of the cuddy of
the Fawn was open. Jumping on board, he found John stretched out upon
one of the beds, apparently very busily engaged in studying his Sunday
school lesson.