That, or something like it, I said. They were all the words I could utter. I no longer looked him in the face. With my eyes fixed upon the deck, I awaited his reply. "Come, my lad! rise up!" said a voice, in a tone of kindness; "rise up, and come with me into the cabin." A hand was placed upon mine, I was raised to my feet, and led away. He who walked by my side, and conducted me as I tottered along, was the captain himself! This did not look like giving me to the sharks. Was it possible that the ending should be of this merciful complexion? As I passed into the cabin, I beheld my shadow in a mirror. I should not have known myself. My whole body was as white as if it had been lime-washed; but I remembered the flour. My face alone was to be seen, and that was almost as white as the rest--white, and wan, and bony as that of a skeleton! I saw that suffering and meagre fare had made sad havoc with my flesh. The captain seated me on a sofa, and, having summoned his steward, ordered him to fill me out a glass of port wine. He uttered not a word till I had drunk it; and then, turning to me, with a look in which I could read nothing of sternness, he said-- "Now, my lad, tell me all about it!" It was a long story, but I told it from first to last. I concealed nothing--neither of the motives that had led me to run away from my home, nor yet any item of the vast damage I had done to the cargo. This, however, was already well-known to him, as half the crew had long since visited my lair behind the water-butt, and ascertained everything. When I had gone through every circumstance, I wound up with the proposal I had resolved to make to him; and then, with an anxious heart, I awaited his response. My anxiety was soon at an end. "Brave lad!" he exclaimed, rising to his feet, and going towards the door, "you wish to be a sailor? You _deserve_ to be a sailor; and by the memory of your noble father, whom I chanced to know, you _shall_ be a sailor!" "Here, Waters!" he continued, calling to the big tar, who was waiting outside, "take this youngster, have him fresh rigged; and, as soon as he is strong enough, see that he be properly taught the ropes." And Waters did see that I was taught the ropes--every one of them, and in the proper manner. For many years afterwards he was my shipmate, under that same kind-hearted captain, until I rose from the condition of a mere "boy tar," and was rated upon the _Inca's_ books as an "able seaman." But my promotion did not end there. "_Excelsior_" was my motto; and, assisted by the generous captain, I soon after became a third mate, and afterwards a second mate, and, still later, a first mate, and, last of all, a _captain_! In course of time, too--still better than all--I became _captain of my own ship_.