“Mother, I went to see Judge Miller about the schooner, and he made a suggestion which I think it would be well to follow. You know Jasper Crane has no smack now, and is in hard luck, while he and his two sons are the best seamen on the coast, so we can put them on the schooner, as a crew, the old gentleman being skipper. As it will also cost considerable for me to reach the Naval School, I can make a cargo of the raft that came ashore and run it to Norfolk, thence going up the Chesapeake to the Naval Academy, while Captain Jasper Crane brings the schooner back and follows the advice of Judge Miller about putting her on as a packet among the islands.
“He is very kind, my son, and I believe the plan is a good one, as well as yours to run the lumber to Norfolk, only you must give yourself ample time, so we will begin preparations to-morrow.”
This was done, for Mark sailed down the coast to the home of Captain Jasper Crane, who dwelt near where the Merrills had first lived when coming to the coast, and the old sailor and his sons were delighted with a prospect of getting work to their liking.
Two weeks after the Venture, for such was the name of the derelict schooner, set sail for Norfolk, Captain Crane declaring that he would serve as first mate while Mark was on board.
The run south was made in good time, and the lumber brought sufficient to pay the crew liberally and return to Mrs. Merrill several hundred dollars, while Mark took sufficient for his own needs, and enough to pay his debt to Commodore Lucien.
The rush of the Venture up the Severn River in a gale, with Mark at the helm, whose masterly work won the admiration of the middies, and we will now follow the young sailor into the new world he had entered.
Mark had politely given his name to the cadets, and asked the question as to how he would find the commandant, expecting a civil response.
But here was a novelty for the fun-loving cadets.
Against all custom a new man had arrived in his own craft by sea.
He had given them ocular demonstration that he was not a greenhorn on the deck of a vessel, whatever he might be in other things.