t hitherto
used, which showed that his education had been superior to that which
men of his vocation generally possess.

This remark, it must be confessed, considerably damped the ardour of the
young midshipman. The latter, however, still continued to urge him and
David to try and get on board one of the ships. They were in reality as
anxious as he was to do so, for they could not but feel that they were
exposed to many dangers while they remained on the raft. The wind had
dropped, and in one respect this was in their favour, as the frigates
could not sail away; but what little wind there was was against them,
and this made rowing their heavy craft more tedious. They progressed
very slowly, and after two hours' hard rowing they seemed no nearer than
before. The day was drawing on; still they persevered. Hope continued
to cheer the two boys, whatever the old man might have thought about the
matter. At last Harry stopped. "They are making sail, and the breeze
is getting up. Oh dear! oh dear! They'll be off before we can reach
them. Still we'll try--pull away, David, pull away, there's a good
fellow."

All the efforts of the lads brought them no nearer the two frigates.
They could see the British ensign run up above that of the French.
Still it was evident that they themselves were not observed: no wonder,
under the circumstances, as everybody on board must have been busily
engaged. Still thus, as it were, to be deserted, was very trying to the
young lads. They bore up, however, manfully under the disappointment.

"Perhaps the wind may fall or shift again, and they may have after all
to take a tack this way," exclaimed Harry, whose hopeful enthusiasm it
was impossible to damp. At last the night returned, and the darkness
shut out the frigates from their sight. The lads had to while away the
time by conversation, and expressed their intentions of not going to
sleep during the night; they, however, stowed themselves away in their
accustomed places, where, should they by any chance begin to slumber,
they might not run the risk of falling into the sea. For some time they
kept to this resolution, Harry still buoyed up with the hope that they
might get on board the frigate in the morning. At last David's voice
began to get very drowsy, so even did Harry's, and in spite of their
strange position and their anxiety, first one and then the other dropped
off to sleep. The old man leaned forward to ascertain that t