At eight bells in the evening, the starboard watch went on duty; and Jack, muffled up in his pea-jacket, came on deck. The wind was blowing a stiff breeze; and the Harrisburg, under sail and steam, was driving through the great waves of the Atlantic at the rate of twelve knots an hour. On board a man-of-war, men are stationed at all times in the tops; which are the platforms on the masts, just above the lower yards. In large ships, they are capacious enough to hold quite a squad of men, who are on duty there in readiness to perform any service that may be required of them. The topmen of the starboard and port watches are each divided into first and second parts, called “quarter-watches,” one of which relieves the other in the tops at the appointed time. When Jack came on deck at eight bells,--as he belonged to the first part of the starboard watch of mizzen-topmen,--his place was in this airy perch above the deck. It was a very safe and comfortable position, notwithstanding any prejudice which our shore friends might have against such an elevated roosting-place, in a dark night, and in a rolling sea, when the ship pitches so that a landsman would hardly be able to keep his feet on deck, much less in the tops, where the motion of the vessel is more sensibly experienced. Jack Somers had his sea-legs on, and felt perfectly at home on the topgallant yard-arm, in the tops, and in his close quarters on the berth-deck. In fact, he had made up his mind to be a good seaman, and to conduct himself like a true patriot. The honor and glory of the American flag on board the Harrisburg had been intrusted to him, in common with about a hundred and fifty others; and he was fully alive to the responsibility which this trust imposed upon him. He had braced himself up to endure any discomforts and hardships which this new position might impose upon him; and he was not likely to be dismayed by a gale of wind or a sharp set-to with a rebel battery, much less by the ordinary life of a man-of-war’s man. Jack took his place in the mizzen-top: and, as he ascended the rigging, he began to think of home; for this was his first night at sea, and his thoughts naturally reverted to his mother’s cottage in Pinchbrook. He often thought, in his leisure moments, of the blessed associations which cluster around the abiding-place of parents and brothers and sisters. It was a blessed influence which these reflections exerted upon his mind and heart. They preserved him pure and unsullied from the contaminations which surrounded him; for, with many true and good men in the ship, there were those of low and vile tastes, who lived only for the joys of the present moment. Thus far, our sailor-boy had set his face and his heart against the vices and sins of his more debased shipmates.