exactly the same point. "Capital!" exclaimed Smellie, in high
good-humour. "That satisfactorily establishes the exact position of the
tree. Now for the next step. The slave fleet bears north-west 1/4 west
from the tree; and the western entrance to the creek (that by which we
shall advance to the attack to-night) bears exactly north-west from the
same point. Let us lay down these two bearings on the chart--thus. Now
it is evident that the slave fleet and the entrance to the creek are
situate _somewhere or other_ on these two lines; the question
is--_where_? I will show you how I ascertained those two very important
bits of information if you will step to my cabin and bring me the
telescope which you will find hanging against the bulkhead."

Intensely interested in this valuable practical lesson in surveying I
hurried away to do his bidding, and speedily returned with the glass, a
small but very powerful instrument, which I had often greatly admired.

Taking the telescope from my hand he drew it open and directed my
attention to a long series of neat little numbered lines scratched on
the polished brass tube.

"You see these scratches?" he said. "Very well; now I will explain to
you what they are. When I was a midshipman it was my good fortune to be
engaged for a time on certain surveying work, during which I acquired a
tolerably clear insight of the science. And after the work was over and
done with, it occurred to me that my knowledge might be of the greatest
use in cases similar to the present. Now I may tell you, by way of
explanation, that surveying consists, broadly, in the measurement of
angles and lines. The angles are, as you have already seen, very easily
taken by means of a pocket-compass; but the measurement of the lines
bothered me very considerably for a long time. Of course you can
measure a line with perfect accuracy by means of a surveyor's chain, but
I wanted something which, if not quite so accurate as that, would be
sufficiently correct, while not occupying more than a few seconds in the
operation of measurement. So I set to work and trained myself to judge
distances by the eye alone; and by constant diligent practice I acquired
quite a surprising amount of proficiency. And let me say here, I would
very strongly recommend you and every young officer to practise the same
thing; you will be surprised when you discover in how many unexpected
ways it will be found useful. Well, I managed t