not say `nay.'"

I told Dick there was nothing I so much wished, and promised at once to
write and ask Mr Dear. Dick was greatly pleased.

"The matter is settled then, Charley, and I hope, before many months are
over, we shall be in blue water together again, and I shall be teaching
you many of the things which I am afraid all your schooling must have
made you forget." As it was a half-holiday, I was able to spend several
hours with Dick. We were at length discovered. The boys gathered round
us, inquiring who Dick was; and on hearing that he was an old sailor,
begged him to spin them some of his yarns. Dick indulged them to their
hearts' content, and, among other things, narrated some of the early
events of my life. At last he was obliged to take his departure, that
he might catch the evening coach for London.

When the school broke up, I returned to Mr Dear's. He at once
questioned me as to my inclinations about a profession; and when I told
him that I wished to go to sea, he replied, to my great joy, that he
would make arrangements for my sailing in the _Phoebe_.

I spent several weeks at his house, before she was ready for sea,
employing my time, at his suggestion, in studying navigation.

On going up to town one day, I found Captain Renton at the office. He
cordially welcomed me, and assured Mr Dear that he would do his best to
make a sailor of me, and to fit me for my duties as an officer.

The _Phoebe_ was, I found, bound out to Sydney, New South Wales. As she
was by this time nearly ready for sea, Mr Dear thought it best that I
should go on board at once and commence my duties. I found that Dick
had already joined.

"I hope, Charley, you have not forgotten what you knew before you went
to school," he observed. "I have been mortally afraid that the
book-learning would drive your seamanship out of your head."

"I hope not," I answered; "I feel myself perfectly at home already, but
I shall be able to judge better when I get to sea."

When Captain Renton left the ship that evening, I thought he looked very
pale; and the next day the first mate, Mr Gibbs, received a message to
say that he was too ill to come on board. Several days passed. We then
heard that he was unable to proceed on the voyage, and had given up the
command to a Captain Slack, who made his appearance the next morning.

"I don't like his name," observed Dick to me, "but he may be a very good
man for all that: still, to my eye, h