in a few moments, with rather a heavy movement, as
though he was lame, or much exhausted, he climbed up the ladder, and
stepped down upon the ship deck.

"Fill away again!" said the captain to the first lieutenant, as a
curious crowd began to gather around the stranger. Ryder gave the
necessary orders to brace up the main yards, and set the mainsail
again, and the ship was soon moving on her course towards the Naze of
Norway, as though nothing had occurred to interrupt her voyage.

"What are you doing out here, in an open boat, out of sight of land?"
asked Captain Cumberland, while the watch on deck were bracing up the
yards.

The waif looked at the commander of the Young America, and carefully
examined him from head to foot. The elegant uniform of the captain
seemed to produce a strong impression upon his mind, and he evidently
regarded him as a person of no small consequence. He did not answer
the question put to him, seeming to be in doubt whether it was safe
and proper for him to do so. Captain Cumberland was an exceedingly
comely-looking young gentleman, tall and well formed in person,
graceful and dignified in his manners; and if he had been fifty years
old, the stranger before him could not have been more awed and
impressed by his bearing. So far as his personal appearance was
concerned, the waif appeared to have escaped from the rag-bag, and to
have been out long enough to soil his tatters with oil, tar, pitch,
and dirt. Though his face and hands, as well as other parts of his
body, were very dirty, his eye was bright, and, even seen through the
disguise of filth and rags that covered him, he was rather
prepossessing.

"What is your name?" asked Captain Cumberland, finding his first
question was not likely to be answered.

"Ole Amundsen," replied the stranger, pronouncing his first name in
two syllables.

"Then you are not English."

"No, sir. Be you?"

"I am not; we are all Americans in this ship."

"Americans!" exclaimed Ole, opening his eyes, while a smile beamed
through the dirt on his face. "Are you going to America now?"

"No; we are going up the Baltic now," replied Captain Cumberland; "but
we shall return to America in the course of a year or two."

"Take me to America with you--will you?" continued Ole, earnestly. "I
am a sailor, and I will work for you all the time."

"I don't know about that. You must speak to the principal."

"Who's he?"

"Mr. Lowington. He is in the cabin now. Whe