was with no
little awe that I thought of actually breakfasting, and dining, and
speaking day after day with one who had seen so much of the world, and
met with so many adventures. At last he arrived. I was not
disappointed in his appearance. He was a tall, thin, spare man, all
bone and muscle. His hair was almost white, and his features, which
were not a little weather-beaten, had, I thought, a most pleasant
expression. While, however, my brothers ran eagerly forward to meet
him, I hung back, watching him at a distance, like a bashful child. Had
he been one of England's greatest heroes, I could not have looked at him
with greater respect. "And that is the man," I thought, "who has sailed
over thousands and thousands of miles of water, and has seen Indians
dressed in feathers and shells, and negroes running wild in their native
woods, and Hottentots, and Esquimaux, and Chinese, and I do not know
what other strange people!" I saw my father look round for me, so at
last I went forward in time to be presented in my turn with the rest of
my brothers. Very soon the feeling of awe wore off, and I became the
most constant of his attendants wherever he wished to go. With the
greatest eagerness I used to listen to the accounts he gave our father
of his various adventures in the distant countries he had visited. My
brothers listened also; but while they would at length betake themselves
to other occupations, I remained his ever-attentive auditor. The
interest I exhibited in what he was saying attracted his attention, and
much pleased him, so that when I ventured to ask him questions, he both
answered them willingly and encouraged me to ask more. Thus we before
long became very great friends.

"Should you like to go to sea, Harry?" said he to me one day, when he
had begun to talk of taking his departure.

"With you, sir, indeed I should; there's nothing in the world I should
like so much," I answered. The tone of my voice and the expression of
my countenance showed him how much I was in earnest.

"Very well, my boy. You are rather young just yet to rough it at sea,
and you will be the better for another year's schooling; but when I come
back from my next voyage, if you are in the same mind, and your father
is willing to let you go, I will take you to sea with me. I'll talk to
him about it if I have an opportunity."

"Thank you, sir--thank you!" I exclaimed, almost choking with the
vehemence of my feelings; "it