(icles JPNMOT MOIS FR e08) IN AUNT GIL IE  SISOZLS.

The little boat and the big ship drifted slowly toward one another. There
was a slight commotion on the forecastle, and then the lookout’s voice was heard
as he reported :

“Something on the port bow, sir. I think it is a small boat.”

“Ship ahoy!” sang out Jack.

“ Halloo!” came the response.

“What ship is that?”

“United States frigate Constitution. Who are you?”

“Cat-boat Flyaway, fishing.”

“Golly! but she’s full of men; look!” and Hunk gazed open-mouthed at her
tall black sides pierced with a dozen gun ports, from each of which a dozen
heads were craned, eager to catch a glimpse of the strangers. Her to’gallant
forecastle was crowded with men and boys, and on the bridge aft a group of
officers in dripping oil-skins seemed to be holding an anxious consultation.

One of them presently hailed the boat:

“Where are we?” he asked.

“On Nantucket Shoals,” answered Jack.

“ Come aboard for a moment, if you please,” continued the officer.

There was a quick, sharp order; a seaman sprang into the chains; the end of
a heaving line fell into the boat, and the next moment they were alongside,
climbing the slippery accommodation ladder.

A dapper young gentleman in the uniform of a midshipman met them at
the gangway. Jack found out afterward he was called the “ gentleman of the
watch.” He conducted Jack to the bridge, while Hunk, too much astonished to
move, seemed rooted to his position in the gangway.

He was surrounded at once by a group of some half-hundred laughing,
questioning youngsters, all boys about his own age.

They were midshipmen from the Naval Academy on their yearly practice
cruise, and the Constitution was the practice ship.

It takes a good deal to dampen the enthusiasm of a midshipman; neither the
wet fog nor the presence of the ship in a dangerous locality, a fact that most of
of them had already guessed, seemed to have much effect on their excess of
animal spirits.

Jack, on the bridge, however, encountered a very different atmosphere. On
the faces of the officers was imprinted an unmistakable look of anxiety. The
navigator walked rapidly to and fro, every now and then popping his head under
the oil-skin cover to examine the chart; the officer of the deck toyed nervously
with the speaking-trumpet, and the captain, extending his hand to Jack as he
mounted the bridge, looked like a man who had been up all night, as in fact
he had.

“T am Captain Somerset,” he said. “Maybe you can give us some informa-
tion. Are you acquainted with this locality ?”’