pin. I know
what a marlin-spike is, and a belaying-pin, too. Of course, they meant
by this insulting comparison to insinuate that I am too small to be a
sailor. But a boy-sailor--surely I am big enough for that? I have
heard of sailor boys not so old as I am. What size am I? How tall, I
should like to know? Oh! if I only had a carpenter's rule I would soon
settle that point! How thoughtless of me not to have measured myself
before leaving home! Can I not do it here? I wonder if there is no way
of finding out how tall I am."

The current of my reflections was at this moment broken in upon, by my
observing on one of the boxes some figures roughly scratched with chalk,
and on closer inspection I made out the cipher to be "4 foot." I saw at
once that it referred to the length of the box, for its height could not
have been so much. Perhaps it had been thus marked by the carpenter who
made the case, or it may have been put on to guide the sailors in lading
the vessel.

Be that as it may, it gave me an idea; and in less than three minutes I
knew my stature to an inch.

I ascertained it in the following manner: I laid myself down alongside
the box, and close in to its edge. Having placed my heels on a level
with one end, I stretched myself out to my full length. I then felt
with my hand whether the crown of my head came flush with the other end
of the case. It did not, though there was scarce an inch wanting to
make me as long as the box; but wriggle and stretch my joints as I
might, I could not get more than square with it. Of course, it made no
difference--as far as determining my height was concerned: if the box
was four feet long, I could not be quite four feet; and as I knew a boy
of only four feet in height was but a very small boy indeed, I rose to
my legs, considerably mortified by the knowledge I had gained.

Previous to this measurement, I really had no idea I was of such short
stature. What boy _does_ think himself much less than a man? But now I
was convinced of my littleness. No wonder Jack Waters had called me a
sprat, and his comrades had compared me to a marlin-spike and a
belaying-pin.

The knowledge I had gained of my Lilliputian stature put me all out of
heart with myself, and my designs now assumed a more gloomy aspect. I
felt almost sure that none of the ships would receive me; for I
remembered that I had never heard of boy-sailors so small as I was.
Certainly I had never seen any;