aman-like thing. I shall at once give you a higher
rating, for you have shown yourself thoroughly deserving of it.'

"I never saw a fellow so thoroughly astonished. He pulled away a lock
of his hair, till I thought he would haul it out by the roots, for he,
of course, held his hat in his hand; and he scraped away with his foot,
and said that he didn't think he had done anything out of the common
way, and it was only his duty, and that sort of thing; but there was
nothing like affectation in what he said. Still more astonished was he
when the captain continued--

"`You shall come to my clerk every day, and perhaps he will give you
some instruction which may be useful to you. If you go on as you have
begun, I may hope some day to see you on the quarter-deck.'

"The captain said a good deal more to the same effect. As I was saying,
Jim was astonished. He said very little in return, but only pulled away
harder than ever at his hair. Though before that time I should not have
supposed that he had a spark of ambition in his soul, I after this
observed a marked change in his demeanour and character. I suspect his
eye was never off the quarter-deck. When not on duty, he was always
reading and writing, and talking on nautical subjects. He was neater,
and cleaner, and more active than before; at the same time that he was
just as respectful as ever to all above him. He came home with us, and
as soon as the ship was paid off, he went of his own accord to a
nautical school to learn navigation, to enable him to do which he had
saved up every farthing of his pay. Now, I say that Jim has set an
example which many young gentlemen would do well to follow. If our
captain gets a ship soon, he will take him with him; and when he hears
how he has been employing his time on shore, I am very certain that he
will keep his eye on him, and advance him if he can."

Everybody present had listened with intense interest to Frank's account
of his ship's narrow escape from destruction, and this of course
encouraged him to continue his narrations on subsequent evenings; but as
my readers are not his brothers and sisters, and father and mother, who
might possibly be somewhat prejudiced in his favour, I will not repeat
them.

The young men and boys were all looking out eagerly for a frost; and
every night they went out, one after the other, to ascertain whether the
smell of the air gave indications of one having set in. Who does not
know