"Father, I want you to give me half a sovereign."

"Half a sovereign!" repeated his father; "what do you want of half a
sovereign?"

A sovereign is the common gold coin of England. The value of it is a
pound, or nearly five dollars; and half a sovereign is, of course, in
value about equal to two dollars and a half of American money.

"I want to get a ticket," said Hilbert. "Come, father, make haste," he
added, with many impatient looks and gestures, and still holding out his
hand.

"A ticket? what ticket?" asked his father. As he asked these questions,
he put his hand in his pocket and drew out an elegant little purse.

"Why, they are going to have a lottery about the ship's run, to-day,"
replied Hilbert, "and I want a ticket. The tickets are half a sovereign
apiece, and the one who gets the right one will have all the half
sovereigns. There will be twenty of them, and that will make ten
pounds."

"Nearly fifty dollars," said his father; "and what can you do with all
that money, if you get it? O, no, Hibby; I can't let you have any money
for that. And besides, these lotteries, and the betting about the run of
the ship, are as bad as gambling. They are gambling, in fact."

"Why, father," said Hilbert, "you bet, very often."

Mr. Livingston, for that was his father's name, and his companion, the
gentleman who was sitting with him, laughed at hearing this; and the
gentleman said,--

"Ah, George, he has you there."

Even Hilbert looked pleased at the effect which his rejoinder had
produced. In fact, he considered his half sovereign as already gained.

"O, let him have the half sovereign," continued the gentleman. "He'll
find some way to spend the ten pounds, if he gets them, I'll guaranty."

So Mr. Livingston gave Hilbert the half sovereign, and he, receiving it
with great delight, ran away.

The plan of the lottery, which the men at the paddle box were arranging,
was this. In order, however, that the reader may understand it
perfectly, it is necessary to make a little preliminary explanation in
respect to the mode of keeping what is called the _reckoning_ of ships
and steamers at sea. When a vessel leaves the shore at New York, and
loses sight of the Highlands of Neversink, which is the land that
remains longest in view, the mariners that guide her have then more than
two thousand miles to go, across a stormy and trackless ocean, with
nothing whatever but the sun and stars, and their own calculations of
t