It was somewhere about the time of the last remarks being made by the mate, in which "the grains" were somehow connected with the bobstay, that Jack proceeded to cut another fragment of that crisp juicy ham; but he did not cut it, for the simple reason that there was none left to utilise the knife and fork, which he laid together in his plate with a sigh. And somehow just the most filmy or shadowy idea of the possibility that the steward might ask him if he would take a little more crossed his mind, along with a kind of wondering thought that if the man did, what he would say in reply. But the man did not ask, and Jack glanced at the toast-rack, which was, like his tea-cup, empty. There was a pause now in the conversation, the captain looked inquiringly round, and then tapped the table lightly and said grace. "Like to see how we take observations by and by, Mr Jack?" he said. "With a telescope?" said Jack quickly, feeling relieved that no one asked him how he felt now. "Well, yes, we do use a little glass in the business attached to the sextant. But you thought I meant observations of the land?" "Yes." "No, we are far away from land now. We take our observations from the sun at twelve o'clock, and then I can give you the exact spot where we are upon the chart." "That's curious," said Jack. "Yes, sir; curious, but quite commonplace now. It's worth noticing though how cleverly scientific men have worked it out for us, and what with our instruments, the chronometer, and the nautical almanac, we only want a bit of sunshine to be able to find out our bearings and never feel afraid of being lost." "I'll come and see how it's done." "Do, sir, at noon; and you'll like to see the heaving of the log as well." The captain was right; the wind dropped--and quite suddenly--a good hour before noon, and Jack found himself beginning to feel a little hungry and hollow inside just about the time when the sextant was brought out, but he felt interested in what was being done, and found himself beginning to think that perhaps after all there might be something during the voyage to compensate for the deprivations he was to suffer with respect to his regular studies and his books. It was curious, too, how little he began to think of the rising and falling of the vessel, as she glided over the waves, which were rough enough, and sparkled brilliantly in the sunshine; but the fore-part of the deck was dry now and warm, while the yacht looked picturesque and cheery, with the crew busy over various matters connected with the navigation. But nobody made the slightest allusion now to his having been ill, or asked how he felt, and the colour came into the lad's cheeks once as he caught his father's eyes, which somehow seemed to wear a more contented and satisfied look, but he only said quietly-- "I say, Jack, lad, do you think we could sit down in a chair now without being shot out?" Jack felt obliged to reply, so he said-- "Let's try."