Such an experience had come to Frank; and thus, on the new morning, as he beheld it rise out of the sea, his spirit spake unto him. He answered his mother's letter, confessing that his conduct had afforded only too good a foundation for Jack's stories. "The trouble, I think, is," said he, "that I wrote my promises first with _a pencil_. They did get a little _rubbed out_ I own. I have since taken _a pen_, and written them all over again, word by word, and letter by letter, _with ink_. So you may depend upon it, dear mother, that not another syllable of my pledge will _get blurred_ or _dimmed_, either on the _leaf of my Testament_; or on the _page of my heart_. Only _believe this_, and then you may believe as much as you please of what J. W. writes." Not a word to the same _J. W._ did Frank say of the base thing he had done; and as for the revenge he had vowed, the impulse to wreak it in tigerish fashion had passed like a night-fog before the breezy purity of the new life that had dawned. In a couple of days Frank had mostly recovered his equanimity. The loss of the watch was still a source of anxious grief to him, however; less on his own account, let me say, than for the sake of the unknown giver. Nor had he, as yet, found any opportunity to atone for his rudeness to the old drum-major, who had lately, for some cause, gone over to the other wing of the regiment on board the steamer, so that Frank yearned in vain to go to him and humbly beg forgiveness for his fault. "What has taken Mr. Sinjin away?" he asked of his friend, the young corporal. Gray shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Frank as if he had a good mind to tell a secret. "How should I know? He's such a crotchety old boy. I don't think he could account for his conduct himself. He asked permission to remove his quarters to the steamer, and got it; pretending, I believe, that he could have better accommodations there." "And _I_ believe," said Frank, "that you know more about it than you will own." "Well, I have my suspicions. Shall I be candid with you, Frank? and you'll forgive me if I hurt your feelings?" "Yes," said Frank, anxiously. "Well, then," said Gray. "I suppose you know Sinjin had taken a great fancy to you." "I thought at one time he liked me." "At one time? I'll wager my head he was liking you the most when he appeared to the least--he's such a queer old cove! I've heard he was disappointed in love once, and that some friend of his proved traitor to him; and that's what has made him so shy of showing any thing like affection for any body. Well, he heard of your gambling, and went to talk with you about it, and you said something to him that wounded him so I think he couldn't bear the sight of you afterwards." The boy's heart was wrung by this revelation. What reason, he demanded to know, had Gray for thinking thus?