uld pass before land would be again sighted. Still, the
master, with the aid of the compass, his sextant, and chronometer, was
able to steer his course with as much certainty as if land had been all
the time in sight.

Martin told Ben, jokingly, that the object of the sextant was to shoot
the stars and the sun; but Ben found that it was to measure the height
of the sun above the horizon, and the distance of certain stars from
each other. The chronometer, he learned, was a large watch made to keep
exact time, so that the time in London was known wherever the ship went.
Ben saw another instrument, a reel with a long line and a triangular
piece of board at the end of it. The line was divided into twelve or
more parts; the end with the board attached was thrown overboard, and,
as the line ran out, a seaman held up a little sand-glass shaped like an
hour-glass. By it the number of knots or divisions run out were easily
measured, and the number of miles the ship sailed over in one hour was
ascertained, and the distance made good each day calculated. Ben looked
at the compass with the greatest respect, and was much pleased when Mr
Martin, the boatswain, could take him and Tom aft to explain its use to
them, and to show them how the ship was steered. As they were not
officers, they could not go when they liked to that part of the ship,
only when they were sent to perform some piece of duty.

Ben seldom exchanged a word with Mr Charlton, who, however, never
failed when he passed to give him a kind glance of the eye, to show him
that he was not forgotten. This made him feel happy and contented.
People of all ages feel thus when they know that a kind friend is
looking after them. How much more, then, should Christians feel happy
and contented when they know that their Father in heaven, the kindest of
friends, and at the same time the most powerful, who never slumbers nor
sleeps, is ever watching over them to guard them from all evil; and that
if He allows what the world calls a misfortune to overtake them, it is
for their real good.

Ben soon learned all about a ship, for, having been from his childhood
on the water, things were not so strange to him as they are to a boy who
had come from some inland place with, as Tom said, the hay-seed in his
hair. He was as active and intelligent and daring as any of the boys in
the ship, not only of his own size, but of those much bigger and older.
Though also he had his duties in t