He stood about six
feet in height, and he would have made a fine guardsman, for he looked
as if he had been carefully drilled all his life long. Men who
habitually exercise every muscle and tendon acquire that graceful
carriage which belongs to the military gymnast. This fine young fellow
was full of high spirits and bodily power; courage was so natural to him
that I do not think such a word as "brave" ever entered his vocabulary.
He had never been afraid of anything in his life, and it did not occur
to him to think of danger. When Jack was a little child he was taken out
to sea in his father's vessel, and henceforth a ship was his only home
from year's end to year's end. The boy was so daring that he made some
of the old hands nervous very often, and there were many doleful
prophecies made regarding the ultimate fate of his carcase. On one blowy
day when the ships were pitching freely, it happened that Jack's father
went with fish to the steam cutter, leaving the urchin on deck. As the
old man drew back within a quarter-mile of his smack, he saw a black
figure clambering along the gaff, and he knew that it was Jack.
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