greatest satisfaction, and one day made a remark to that effect in the presence of Captain Hull.
"You are right, madam," said the captain cordially; "Dick is a capital fellow, and will be sure to be a first-rate sailor. He has an instinct which is little short of a genius; it supplies all deficiencies of theory. Considering how short an experience and how little instruction he has had, it is quite wonderful how much he knows about a ship."
"Certainly for his age," assented Mrs. Weldon, "he is singularly advanced. I can safely say that I have never had a fault to find with him. I believe that it is my husband's intention, after this voyage, to let him have systematic training in navigation, so that he may be able ultimately to become a captain."
"I have no misgivings, madam," replied the captain; "there is every reason to expect that he will be an honour to the service"
"Poor orphan!" said the lady; "he has been trained in a hard school."
"Its lessons have not been lost upon him," rejoined Captain Hull; "they have taught him the prime lesson that he has his own way to make in the world."
The eyes of the two speakers turned as it were unwittingly in the direction where Dick Sands happened to be standing. He was at the helm.
"Look at him now!" said the captain; "see how steadily he keeps his eye upon the fore; nothing distracts him from his duty; he is as much to be depended on as the most experienced helmsman. It was a capital thing for him that he began his training as a cabin-boy. Nothing like it. Begin at the beginning. It is the best of training for the merchant service."
"But surely," interposed Mrs. Weldon, "you would not deny that in the navy there have been many good officers who have never had the training of which you are speaking?"
"True, madam; but yet even some of the best of them have begun at the lowest step of the ladder. For instance, Lord Nelson."