It was
only necessary to show him once how to do a thing, while he kept his
sharp eye fixed on the work, and ever after he did it almost if not
quite as well. He very soon dropped the nautical phraseology he had
assumed when he came on board, and which was clearly not habitual to
him; and though he picked up all our phrases, he made use of them more
in a joking way than as if he spoke them without thought, as we did.

From the way he spoke, or from his manner when he addressed any of his
messmates or the officers, or from the way he walked the deck, it was
difficult to suppose him anything else than a gentleman-born, or a
gentleman by education, whatever he had now become, and he at once got
the name forward of "Gentleman Ned." I asked him his name the day after
he came on board.

"Oh, ay. I forgot that," he answered, quickly. "Call me Newman--Ned
Newman. It's not a bad name, is it?" So Ned Newman he was called; but
I felt pretty certain from the first that it was not his real name.

He was good-looking, with fair hair and complexion, and a determined,
firm expression about the mouth. He seemed to put perfect confidence in
me, and we at once became great friends--not that we had at first many
ideas in common, for I was very ignorant, and he knew more than I
supposed it possible for any man to know. He showed me his chest, which
surprised me not a little. Most of his clothes were contained in his
bag. He had not a large kit, but everything was new and of the best
materials, calculated to outlast three times the quantity of sailors'
common slops. Instead of clothes, his chest contained a spy-glass, a
quadrant, just like those of the officers, and a good stock of books,
which I found were in a variety of languages, and some even, I
afterwards learned, were in Greek. Then he had all sorts of
drawing-materials--papers, and pencils, and sketch-books, and a
colour-box, and mathematical instruments, and even a chronometer. He
had a writing-case, and a tool-box, and a flute and violin, and some
music-books. I asked him if he could use the quadrant.

"I never took an observation in my life; but I can work a day's work as
well as a lunar, so I think that I may soon learn the practical part of
the business," he answered.

I pointed to his musical instruments. "Yes; I play occasionally, when I
wish to dispel an evil spirit; but books are my great resource. Jack,
you lose much pleasure from your ignorance of the