is what I have been longing for above all
things. Do, pray, tell my father, or he may suppose it is only a
passing fancy of mine, and may wish me to go into some other profession.
Still, he'll let me go with you--I know he will."

Captain Frankland smiled at my eagerness, but he said not a word to
dissuade me from my wish. Perhaps he remembered his own feelings at my
age. Grown-up people are apt to forget how they thought and felt when
they were boys, which is the reason so few men win the confidence of the
young and manage them properly. The captain, on the contrary, seemed to
understand me thoroughly, and thus gained a complete influence over me.

"I'll be ready to go when you come back," I added.

"Don't be too sure of yourself, Harry," he answered. "I've seen many
people completely change their opinions in a year's time, and I shall
not be absent less than that. If you remain constant to your wish,
remember my promise; but if your fancy changes, you are free to follow
it as far as I am concerned."

I thanked Captain Frankland over and over again for his kindness, and
certainly did not think that there was a possibility of my changing my
inclinations. So he went away, much to my regret, and I fancied that he
had not mentioned our conversation to my father. We all returned to
school, except our eldest brother, who went to college. I no longer
enjoyed school as I once did--I was looked upon as having become very
idle. My mind, however, was not idle, I know, for I was continually
thinking over the idea which had got possession of it. By allowing my
thoughts to rest on that idea, and that alone, the desire increased till
I persuaded myself that the only life I could possibly lead with
satisfaction was that of a life at sea. All this time the curious thing
was, that of the sea itself I practically knew nothing. Born and bred
in an inland county, my eyes had actually never rested on the wide
ocean. Still, I had formed a notion of what it was like; and I fancied
that a sailor was always wandering about from one wild country to
another, and going through a rapid succession of wonderful adventures.
I forgot all about those long voyages when ships are weeks and weeks
together out of sight of land, and the many weary and often anxious
hours which a seaman has to pass away; nor did I consider that he has
frequently the same voyage to make over and over again, the same lands
to visit, and the same people to see.