He sensibly concluded that nothing was to be gained by continuing the
conversation with such a man. He left the schooner's deck with a feeling
of discomfiture. He had never suspected that sailors talked or acted
like the men he saw.

Still he clung to the idea that all sailors were not like this captain.
Perhaps again the rebuff he received was in consequence of his rustic
appearance. The captain might be prejudiced against him, just as the
shop-keepers had been, though the latter certainly had not expressed
themselves in such rude and profane language. He might not be fit for a
sailor yet, but he could prepare himself.

He bethought himself of a cousin of his, by name Amos Letcher, who had
not indeed arrived at the exalted position of captain of a schooner, but
was content with the humbler position of captain of a canal-boat on the
Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal.

This seemed to James a lucky thought.

"I will go to Amos Letcher," he said to himself. "Perhaps he can find me
a situation on a canal-boat, and that will be the next thing to being on
board a ship."

This thought put fresh courage into the boy, and he straightway
inquired for the _Evening Star_, which was the name of the boat
commanded by his cousin.