"Welcome, young gentleman!" said the Skipper, holding out his hand.
"Welcome! the first visitor to the schooner. That it is a child, brings
luck for the next voyage, so we owe you a thank. We arrived last night
only. And what is my young gentleman's name?"

"My name is John," said the boy, standing with down-cast eyes before
this wonderful person.

"And mine!" said the Skipper,--"two Johns, the black and the red. You
should be called Juan Colorado, for your hair of red gold."

The boy looked up quickly, his cheek flushing; he did not like to be
laughed at; but the Skipper's face was perfectly grave, and only
courtesy and hospitality shone from his dark eyes.

"I wonder what the schooner's name is!" John said, presently, speaking
low, and addressing his remarks apparently to the mast, which he kicked
gently with his foot.

"The schooner is the 'Nautilus,' young gentleman!"

The reply came from the Skipper, not from the mast, yet it was still to
the latter that the boy made his next observation.

"I wonder where she comes from, and where she is going, and what she is
going to do here!" And having delivered himself breathlessly of these
remarks, the boy John wished he could squeeze through a port-hole, or
melt away into foam, or get away somehow, anyhow.