, who set himself up as
a sort of leader among the other boys as soon as he came on board,
though he had never before been at sea. He was a big hulking fellow;
and as he had a certain amount of cleverness about him, he tried to make
it appear that he knew a great deal more about things than he really
did. True Blue instinctively discovered that he was a braggart and
inclined to be a bully.

Another boy was of a totally different character. At first sight, so
delicate did he look that it seemed surprising that little Harry
Hartland had been allowed to come to sea at all. But boys were wanted,
and the officers who had to pass them were not very particular; besides,
on further examination, Harry was stronger than he looked, and the
bright expression of his countenance showed that he would probably make
up by intelligence what he lacked in physical power. He had also been
carefully and religiously educated, and his habits were very refined
compared with those of most of the other boys. They soon learned to
call him "Gentleman Harry," though he did not seem pleased with the
appellation. He was very silent as to his own early history. He said
that his mother was a widow, and that he did not remember his father.
He knew that she would not have the means of supporting him, so he
wished to come to sea, and with the help of a friend of his own he had,
after much exertion, accomplished his object.

"You couldn't have done better--that you couldn't, Harry!" exclaimed
True Blue, to whom he had confided thus much of his early history. "I
wouldn't have to go and live in smoky cities, or to ride along dirty
roads, or to have to look only at sheep, or cows, or horses, not to be
the greatest lord in the land. I have never been much on shore, and
maybe haven't seen the most beautiful parts of it; but I was heartily
glad to get afloat again. There you are on shore stuck in the same
place day after day. What does it matter whether it's a calm or a gale,
it doesn't make you go faster or slower. And if you want to go away,
then you have to get on the outside of a coach, and be covered from
truck to kelson with dust, and a precious good chance of a capsize and
getting your neck broke. Now, when I was living ashore with Paul
Pringle's mother and people, there sprung up one night a gale of wind
which blew down the church steeple, I don't know how many big tall
trees, and sent a large part of the thatched roof off the cottage,
bes