"You go ahead and see what you can do, my boy," said the Captain. "Let
Bowers, the mate, handle the schooner, and you tell him which way to
steer."

Thornton went at once to the chronometer and set his watch by it. Then
he went on deck with the Captain's sextant in his hand, and the crew
stopped work to stare at him. He had a short talk with Bowers, who
explained the situation to the men.

"If the Captain says it's all right," said one of the men. "I s'pose it
is."

But, nevertheless, they could not understand how any person not a sailor
could be a competent navigator, though the simple fact is that
navigation has not necessarily anything to do with seamanship. The
schooner was hove to for two hours, because Thornton explained to the
mate that he desired to keep her in one place until he ascertained her
position. At 11.15 the boy took his second sight and went below to work
out his problem. His father stood over him in wonder while he filled a
sheet of paper with sines, cosines, secants, and such things. At last
the computation of the position was completed, and Thornton had to
ascertain the course to be steered. He got the Captain's chart, and,
marking the ship's place on it, went into the sufferer's cabin and
showed it to him.

"I guess you must be about right, boy," said the Captain. "In settin'
the course, you want to get well out here."

And the Captain indicated with his finger certain dangers that must be
given a wide berth. Thornton set a safe course, and, going on deck, told
the mate to get the schooner under way S. 1/2 W. The men sprang to their
work willingly, and in a very few minutes the _Three Elms_ was cleaving
her way over a comparatively quiet sea. For three days Thornton
continued his labors as navigator, and on the morning of the fourth he
announced that the Highlands of Navesink ought to be sighted from the
masthead at eleven o'clock. A sailor was sent up to look out for them.
The hour of eleven came, and he was silent. The mate and the crew looked
gravely at the anxious boy. Could he have been in error? Five minutes
passed, and the men began to talk angrily. Then the man aloft cried:

"Land, ho! It's the bloomin' old Highlands! I know that lump!"

[Illustration: A CHEER WENT UP, AND THE MATE SHOOK HANDS WITH THORNTON.]

Then a cheer went up, and the mate shook hands with Thornton. Before
supper the schooner was in tow of a tug, going up the Swash Channel.

"Well, mother," said Thornton, "d