"If I might be so bold, sir, it would be to send young Ishmael to school." "Send him to school! Ha, ha, ha! ho, ho, ho! why, he'd like that least of anything else! why, he'd consider that the most ungrateful of all returns to make for his services! Boys are sent to school for punishment, not for reward!" laughed the commodore. "Young Ishmael wouldn't think it a punishment, sir," mildly suggested the professor. "I tell you he wouldn't go, my friend! punishment or no punishment! Why, I can scarcely make my own fellows go! Bosh! I know boys; school is their bugbear." "But, under correction, sir, permit me to say I don't think you know young Ishmael." "I know he is a boy; that is enough!" "But, sir, he is rather an uncommon boy." "In that case he has an uncommon aversion to school." "Sir, put it to him, whether he would like to go to school." "What's the use, when I know he'd rather be hung?" "But, pray, give him the choice, sir," respectfully persisted the professor. "What a solemn, impertinent jackanapes you are, to be sure, Morris! But I will 'put it to him,' as you call it! Here, you young fire-eater, come here to me." The boy, who had modestly withdrawn into the background, now came forward. "Stand up before me; hold up your Head; look me in the face! Now, then, answer me truly, and don't be afraid. Would you like to go to school, eh?" Ishmael did not speak, but the moonlight radiance of his pale beaming face answered for him. "Have you no tongue, eh?" bluffly demanded the old sailor. "If you please, sir, I should like to go to school more than anything in the world, if I was rich enough to pay for it." "Humph! what do you think of that, Middleton, eh? what do you think of that? A boy saying that he would like to go to school! Did you ever hear of such a thing in your life? Is the young rascal humbugging us, do you think?" said the commodore, turning to his friend. "Not in the least, sir; he is perfectly sincere. I am sure of it, from what I have seen of him myself. And look at him, sir! he is a boy of talent; and if you wish to reward him, you could not do so in a more effectual way than by giving him some education," said Mr. Middleton. "But what could a boy of his humble lot do with an education if he had it?" inquired the commodore. "Ah! that I cannot tell, as it would depend greatly upon future circumstances; but this we know, that the education he desires cannot do him any harm, and may do him good." "Yes! well, then, to school he shall go. Where shall I send him" inquired the old sailor. "Here; I would willingly take him." "You! you're joking! Why, you have one of the most select schools in the State."