his life."

Having been the means of discovering the young stowaway, I felt a
certain amount of interest in him, and, whenever I could, went in to see
how he was getting on. The next day he had so far recovered as to be
able to speak without difficulty. He told me that his name was Richard
Tilston, though he was generally called Dick by his friends; that he had
had a great longing for going to sea; and that, as his father would not
let him, he had run off from school, and found his way down to the
docks. Hearing that our ship was to haul out into the stream early the
next day, he waited until late in the evening, when he stole on board,
and had, without being discovered, got down into the hold. He had
brought a bottle of water and some biscuits, together with a couple of
sausages. Supposing that the ship would at once put to sea, he had not
placed himself on an allowance, and in less than three days had
exhausted all his provisions and water. As the sea was smooth he
fancied that we were still in the river, and was therefore afraid to
creep out, until he became too ill and weak to do so.

From the tone of his voice and the way he expressed himself I suspected
that he was a young gentleman, but I did not like to ask questions, and
waited to hear what account he would give of himself. He was, however,
too ill to say much, and was in a great fright at hearing that the
captain would be very angry with him for having stowed himself away. I
tried to reassure him by saying I did not believe that the captain was
as yet made acquainted with his being on board, and, as far as I could
judge, he was a good-natured man, and would probably not say much to
him.

In spite of all the doctor's care and the nursing he received from the
two kind women who had taken him in charge, it was considerably more
than a week before he was able to get up and move about the deck. When
his clothes had been cleaned and he himself had been well washed, he
looked a very respectable lad.

At last, one day, Captain Archer saw him, and inquired who he was. The
third mate had to confess all about the matter, and the captain then
sent for Dick, and in an angry tone asked what had induced him to come
on board.

"I wanted to go to sea, sir, and didn't know any other way of managing
it," answered Dick.

"You took a very bad way, and nearly lost your life in carrying out your
foolish notion," said the captain. "You have been pretty severely
pun