The supply-steamer arrived; and Jack, after thanking the captain for his kindness and shaking hands with officers and crew, went on board and thus ended the career of Jack Somers in the navy as an ordinary seaman. CHAPTER XXXI. HOMEWARD BOUND. Jack Somers was compelled to remain at Key West three weeks before he could find a vessel bound to the North; and the important documents which he carried burned in his pocket. He wanted to show them to Captain Barney, to his mother, and to all his friends in Pinchbrook. They were the evidences of his good conduct, of his skill and bravery; and, though Jack was a modest young man, he was proud of his record. He had served his country faithfully and zealously; and he was grateful to his friends for their high appreciation of his services. During those three weeks of idleness, Jack applied himself closely to the study of navigation; using a book which Captain McBride had kindly presented to him. He felt that he had not a moment to waste, and that his future success depended upon the zeal and energy with which he devoted himself to his studies. He was anxious to secure a high rank in the Naval School; and he was willing to purchase his anticipated position by hard work. He was already a thorough seaman. Tom Longstone had been a patient teacher, and he had learned all that belongs to an able seaman’s duty. He was perfectly familiar with the practical part of gunnery; was thoroughly posted in all the technicalities of the ship and its batteries. Of the science of gunnery he knew only what he had learned from his books since the Middy sailed from New Orleans. He had thus obtained a measure of knowledge in regard to the practical details of his profession, to the attainment of which the young gentlemen in the Naval School must devote months or years. But Jack had not acquired all this information during the single year he had been in the navy: he had simply added to his previous knowledge by close attention to his duty. Busy as he was with his studies, he found time to write a long letter to Captain Bankhead, informing him of the reception of his warrant, and expressing his gratitude for the friendly interest he had ever manifested in his welfare. “I shall always think the trip we made to Fort Warren on that dark November night, a year ago, was the luckiest cruise I ever made,” wrote Jack in the letter; “for it gave me a friend who has done more for me than I could ever have done for myself.”