X.
CHARLIE IN A TIGHT PLACE.
Charlie surveyed himself in his new attire with some complacency. He felt that it was becoming, and it gave him a new feeling of manliness. In fact it seemed to him, for the time being, as if he were really a sailor. Charlie, however, though he was very well pleased with his sailor's rig, did not feel in the least tempted to wear it professionally. Accordingly, after the survey was over, he began to divest himself of it.
"What are you doing?" asked the mate, laying his hand heavily upon the shoulder of our young hero.
"Taking off your nephew's clothes," returned Charlie, looking up in considerable surprise at the tone in which he was addressed.
"What's that for?"
"To put on my own."
"Then you needn't trouble yourself," said Randall, composedly; "those you have on are your own."
"What do you mean?" asked Charlie meeting the mate's triumphant look with an open, manly glance.
"I mean," said Randall, with a sardonic look, "that the clothes were bought for the one who now wears them."