s put on half-pay after the action of the _Imperieuse_ against
the French fleet, and found himself without any prospect of future
employment, and without even a chance of obtaining a nomination for his
son to a midshipman's berth. The blow was at first a very keen one, but it
was less bitterly felt after the conclusion of peace and the great
reduction of the navy, as his fate was only that of thousands of other
officers; and he had now come to feel that the effects of his wound, for
which he received a small addition to his half-pay, rendered him unfit for
further service, even could he have obtained an appointment. He had, since
leaving the navy, lived in a little cottage at Ramsgate, where from his
garden he could obtain a view of the sea and the passing ships. The
education of his son afforded him employment for some hours a day. His
favourite position was on a bench in the garden, from which he could watch
through a telescope mounted on a tripod the passing ships, criticise the
state of their rigging and sails, and form conjectures as to their
destination.

It was a great pang to him to part with Stephen, but he felt that he could
no longer keep him by his side; and he was sure that the careful training
he had given him in all nautical matters would enable the lad to make his
way in the mercantile navy. A fortnight after his conversation with Steve,
the lieutenant received a letter from his friend in London, saying that
one of his ships that had returned a fortnight before was now unloaded,
and would at once begin to fit out for a fresh voyage, and it would be
therefore as well for him to bring Stephen up, so that he might have the
advantage of seeing the whole process of preparing a ship for sea. He gave
a warm invitation to Lieutenant Embleton to stay with him for a week or
two, and on the following day father and son went on board a Ramsgate hoy,
and thirty-six hours later arrived in the port of London. They were warmly
received by Mr. Hewson.

"I think your boy is fortunate that the _Tiger_ should be the first ship
he will sail in," he said that evening. "I regard the captain as my best
officer. He is a good seaman and a capital navigator, and he is of a most
kindly disposition; therefore, I can put the boy under him with the
certainty that he will be well treated and cared for. In the next place,
the _Tiger_ does not, like my other ships, make regular voyages to and
from a foreign port, but carries on the busin