.
Whatever you do, wherever you go, always keep it in view. It is of more
value than gold or much fine gold. Get, I say, on that course, and do
not let any one ever tempt you to alter it. In fair weather or foul,
steadily steer for it, and you will be sure to make it at last."

We all listened attentively to the good man's words; he spoke with so
much earnestness, and had given us so strong a proof of his practical
Christianity, that we could not but feel that they merited our respect.
The captain of the brig--the same man who had hailed us with the
speaking-trumpet--stood at the gangway to receive us when we pulled
alongside.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked at him. I rubbed and rubbed again.

There stood, scarcely altered, it appeared to me, a man I had believed
long since swallowed up by the hungry waves, Captain Tooke, once the
master of the _Fate_, the brig in which I had been wrecked off the
Scilly Islands. If it was not him,--saved by some wonderful means,--I
felt sure that it was a brother or near relative; for if he was not my
old captain, no two people could be more alike. The sea had gone down
completely, so that we without difficulty boarded the brig. Her master
thanked the Bremen captain very warmly for the assistance he had brought
him, and welcomed us.

"You are brave lad? for coming on board such a wreck of a craft as mine
is," said he, looking at us, and putting out his hand to La Motte.
"However, if we are mercifully favoured by fine weather, we will get her
all ataunto before long."

We told him that if the ship was sound in hull, we had no fears about
the matter; we should soon get her to rights.

"That's the spirit I liked to see," he answered, and then turning to the
Bremen captain, he continued, "Tell me, my friend, how much am I to pay
you for these spars? Ask your own price. They are invaluable to me."

"Nothing," was the answer. "I had several to spare, and none have been
lost during the voyage. Well, if you press the point, you may pay the
value over to these men when you reach your own country. They have lost
their all from being taken prisoners, and will require something to take
them to their homes."

"That I will, with all my heart," answered the captain of the brig.

While he was speaking, I kept looking at him. Though his features were
the same, his way of expressing himself was so different to that of
Captain Tooke, that I felt I must be mistaken.

Farewells were s