ung man, but I'm not very hopeful of him, for he's an
Irishman."

"Come, old fellow," said Edgar, with a laugh, "mind what you say about
Irishmen. I've got a dash of Irish blood in me through my mother, and
won't hear her countrymen spoken of with disrespect. Why should not an
Irishman make a good diver?"

"Because he's too excitable, as a rule," replied Baldwin. "You see,
Mister Edgar, it takes a cool, quiet, collected sort of man to make a
good diver, and Irishmen ain't so cool as I should wish. Englishmen are
better, but the best of all are Scotchmen. Give me a good, heavy,
raw-boned lump of a Scotchman, who'll believe nothin' till he's
convinced, and accept nothin' till it's proved, who'll argue with a
stone wall, if he's got nobody else to dispute with, in that slow sedate
humdrum way that drives everybody wild but himself, who's got an amazin'
conscience, but no nerves whatever to speak of--ah, that's the man to go
under water, an' crawl about by the hour among mud and wreckage without
gittin' excited or makin' a fuss about it if he should get his life-line
or air-toobe entangled among iron bolts, smashed-up timbers, twisted
wire-ropes, or such like."

"Scotchmen should feel complimented by your opinion of them," said
Edgar.

"So they should, for I mean it," replied Baldwin, "but I hope the
Irishman will turn up a trump this time.--May I take the liberty of
askin' how you're gittin' on wi' the engineering, Mister Edgar?"

"Oh, famously. That is to say, I've just finished my engagement with
the firm of Steel, Bolt, Hardy, and Company, and am now on the point of
going to sea."

Baldwin looked at his companion in surprise. "Going to sea!" he
repeated, "why, I thought you didn't like the sea?"

"You thought right, Baldwin, but men are sometimes under the necessity
of submitting to what they don't like. I have no love for the sea,
except, indeed, as a beautiful object to be admired from the shore, but,
you see, I want to finish my education by going a voyage as one of the
subordinate engineers in an ocean-steamer, so as to get some practical
acquaintance with marine engineering. Besides, I have taken a fancy to
see something of foreign parts before settling down vigorously to my
profession, and--"

"Well?" said Baldwin, as the youth made rather a long pause.

"Can you keep a secret, Baldwin, and give advice to a fellow who stands
sorely in need of it?"

The youth said this so earnestly that the hu