bservation from a star, you may imagine that he will not
require much teaching in navigation."

"I am glad indeed to hear it, Mr. Hewson--heartily glad; there ought to be
two men on board a ship who can do that, for there is never any saying
what might happen if there is only one. It has made me anxious many a
time, when we had a bad spell of weather, as to how the _Tiger_ would get
on if I happened to be washed overboard by a sea or killed by a falling
spar. Well, Master Embleton, I can see that I shall have no difficulty in
making a first-rate sailor of you. Have you come to stay?"

"Yes, sir. My father thought it would be good for me to be on board from
the time the fitting-out began."

"Quite right, lad. You will then learn as much in a fortnight as you would
in a year at sea. I always make a point of being here myself, and my first
officer wouldn't allow anything to prevent his seeing that everything was
right from first to last. But I don't think that you will be able to sleep
on board for the next fortnight."

"Of course not," Mr. Embleton said. "I intend to take a lodging for him as
close to the dock-gate as I can. Perhaps you may know of a tidy place."

"He can't do better than lodge with us," the captain said. "Mr. Staines
and I always put up at the same place. We give them notice when we are
going to begin to fit out, and they keep the rooms for us. We both slept
there last night. The house is kept by a nice clean woman, the widow of a
skipper who was lost with his craft about ten years ago. I have no doubt
she can put the lad up too, and he can mess with us. I will go round with
him myself; till we get the shrouds up, one is quite enough to look after
the riggers."

"I thank you very much, captain. That will be in all respects more
pleasant for the boy than lodging by himself."

The matter was speedily arranged. Mr. Embleton then took Stephen to a
clothing shop and bought him two suits of rough canvas.

"You will find it dirty work, Steve. There is no keeping free of the tar.
By the way, Captain Pinder, I have not ordered Steve's outfit yet, for I
know that on some lines the apprentices dress like midshipmen, on others
they don't; so I put it off until I saw you."

"I always like the apprentices on board my ship to be dressed as
midshipmen," the captain replied. "There will only be three on board as
far as I know. I make a point of messing with my officers, and if there
are only two or three apprent