rd them, and in a moment my hands went out of water,
just at the side of the scow. I stood up, and my head with half my body
came up into the air.

What a breath I drew! But I felt so weak and shaky that I had to take
hold of the side of the scow, and stand there for a while before I waded
ashore. The boy who was standing by me was Rectus. He did not have that
name then, and I didn't know him.

"It must be pretty hard to stay under water so long," he said.

"Hard!" I answered, as soon as I could get my breath; "I should think
so. Why, I came near being drowned!"

"Is that so?" said he; "I didn't know that. I saw you go down, and have
been watching for you to come up. But I didn't expect you to come from
under the scow."

How glad I was that he had been standing there watching for me to come
up! If he had not been there, or if his legs had been green or the
color of water, I believe I should have drowned.

I always liked the boy after that, though, of course, there was no
particular reason for it. He was a boarder. His parents lived in New
York. Samuel Colbert was his real name, and the title of Rectus he
obtained at school by being so good. He scarcely ever did anything
wrong, which was rather surprising to the rest of us, because he was not
sickly or anything of that kind. After a while, we got into the way of
calling him Rectus, and as he didn't seem to mind it, the name stuck to
him. The boys generally liked him, and he got on quite well in the
school,--in every way except in his studies. He was not a smart boy, and
did not pretend to be.

I went right through the academy, from the lowest to the highest class,
and when I left, the professor, as we called our principal, said that I
was ready to go to college, and urged me very much to do so. But I was
not in any hurry, and my parents agreed with me that, after four years
of school-life, I had better wait a while before beginning a new course.
All this disturbed the professor very much, but he insisted on my
keeping up my studies, so as not to get rusty, and he came up to our
house very often, for the purpose of seeing what I was doing in the
study line, and how I was doing it.

I thought over things a good deal for myself, and a few months after I
left the academy I made up my mind to travel a little. I talked about it
at home, and it was generally thought to be a good idea, although my
sister was in favor of it only in case I took her with me. Otherwise she