naval decorum. But in
that decorum he had never been instructed; in consideration of which the
Lieutenant would hardly have been so energetic in reproof but for the concluding
farewell to the ship. This he rather took as meant to convey a covert sally on
the new recruit's part, a sly slur at impressment in general, and that of
himself in especial. And yet, more likely, if satire it was in effect, it was
hardly so by intention, for Billy, though happily endowed with the gaiety of
high health, youth, and a free heart, was yet by no means of a satirical turn.
The will to it and the sinister dexterity were alike wanting. To deal in double
meaning and insinuations of any sort was quite foreign to his nature.
    As to his enforced enlistment, that he seemed to take pretty much as he was
wont to take any vicissitudes of weather. Like the animals, though no
philosopher he was, without knowing it, practically a fatalist. And, it may be,
that he rather liked this adventurous turn in his affairs which promised an
opening into novel scenes and martial excitements.
    Aboard the Indomitable our merchant-sailor was forthwith rated as an able
seaman, and assigned to the starboard watch of the foretop. He was soon at home
in the service, not at all disliked for his unpretentious good looks, and a sort
of genial happy-go-lucky air. No merrier man in his mess; in marked contrast to
certain other individuals included like himself among the impressed portion of
the ship's company; for these when not actively employed were sometimes, and
more particularly in the last dog-watch when the drawing near of twilight
induced revery, apt to fall into a saddish mood which in some partook of
sullenness. But they were not so young as our foretopman, and no few of them
must have known a hearth of some sort, others may have had wives and children
left, too probably, in uncertain circumstances, and hardly any but must have
acknowledged kith and kin; while for Billy, as will shortly be seen, his entire
family was practically invested in himself.
 

                                       II

Though our new-made foretopman was well received in the top and on the
gun-decks, hardly here was he that cynosure he had previously been among those
minor ships' companies of the merchant marine, with which companies only had he
hitherto consorted.
    He was young; and despite his all but fully developed frame, in aspect
looked even younger than he really was. This was owing to a lingering adolescent
expression in the as yet smooth face