d
Champion aloud) "may have accepted the truth, and then--" and she looked
upwards--"when we are called upon to part, we may know that we shall
meet together to enjoy the glorious happiness which our gracious Saviour
has prepared for all those who love Him."

CHAPTER TWO.

WHALING IN THE PACIFIC.

The _Steadfast_, South Sea whaler, having doubled Cape Horn, was
traversing the broad waters of the Pacific. Royals and studding-sails
were set to catch the light breeze which sent her gliding majestically
along over the calm ocean; her six whaleboats, with stem and stern
alike, hung from the davits above her black sides. A tropical sun shone
down on her deck, making the pitch hiss and bubble in the seams, and
driving all on deck whose duty did not compel them to keep elsewhere,
into such shade as the sails and bulwarks afforded.

Captain Graybrook, a fine-looking man, with an open, intelligent
expression of countenance, stood aft, sextant in hand, prepared to take
a meridional altitude. Near him was his second mate, Leonard Champion,
with two boys, one of whom also held a sextant.

"You can now, Harry, take an observation as well as I can, and before
long, if you pay attention, you will become a good navigator," observed
the young mate.

"Thank you for teaching me, Mr Champion; that's just my wish," answered
Harry.

"Where there's a will there's a way; and you, Mr Bass," said the mate,
turning to the other boy, "ought to do as well as Harry by this time."

"Dickey is fonder of skylarking than shooting the stars," remarked
Harry, laughing.

"Not fonder than you are, Harry," retorted Dickey Bass, who was the son
of a former shipmate of Captain Graybrook, and brought by him to sea
through regard for the boy's father. "I don't happen to understand sums
as well as you do, and so I don't always get my day's work done as
correctly as yours."

"Always! why, if we were to go by your reckoning, Dickey, we should have
been in the middle of the forests of South America, or on the top of the
Andes, before now. When did you ever make a right calculation?" asked
Harry, who delighted in bantering Dickey, though they were really great
friends.

"Why, for the last fortnight I don't suppose I have been more than eight
or ten degrees out at the utmost."

Mr Champion and Harry laughed heartily.

"Rather a serious error, Mr Bass."

"I meant minutes," said Dickey, "or perhaps seconds; I always forget
which is which."