a
capful,--if there were no ice in the way," he added.

"We might soon be at Hudson Straits were this to hold," laughed Kit.

"Yes, sir," replied the captain. "Eight days would do it. But of
course this is mere fine talk. You are not to look for any thing of
the sort."

"We don't," said Raed. "But how long do you suppose it _will_ take to
work up there with ordinary weather?"

"Oh! well, for a guess, eighteen days,--anywhere from eighteen to
twenty-five. Oughtn't to be over twenty-five with this schooner. Will
sail thirteen knots on a wind."

... We were now fairly clear of the shore. The wind freshened. "The
Curlew" dashed forward, rising and falling with the swells. The whole
east was reddening. The dark spar of the bow-sprit rose and fell
through it. It seemed a good omen to be going toward the light. Ere
the sun met us on the sea, we were twelve miles out of Gloucester....

Kit had often complained that he had been unable to write up the
account of our Katahdin expedition so well as he could have done had
he known beforehand that it would have fallen to Jim to do. At his
suggestion, Raed, Wade, and myself, this morning, drew lots to sea who
would be the historian of the present cruise. The reader, doubtless,
has already inferred which of us got the short lot. Well, it was fun
for the others, though any thing but fun for me. Nothing but a strong
sense of restraining shame, added to the rather inconvenient distance
from land, prevented me from deserting. Nature never designed me for a
writer. Of that I am convinced; and doubtless my readers will not long
differ with me. This is my first literary effort. If I know myself, it
will also be my last. Under these circumstances, I beg that such of my
young fellow-citizens as may happen to come upon this narrative (and I
am not ambitions to have the number large) will kindly forbear to
criticise it; for it will not bear criticism. Such of the facts and
incidents of our voyage as I have thought would be of interest I have
tried to write out. Strictly nautical terms and phrases I have sought
to avoid: first, because I believed them of no great interest to the
general reader; second, because, with this my first sea-trip, I have
not become adept enough in their use to "swing" them with the fluent
grace of your true-going, irresistible old salt; and from any other
source they are, to my mind, unendurable.

In the plan of education we have marked out for ourselves, it has