however, arriving, and her grandson not having returned, the old lady
became so excessively alarmed, that messengers, both on horseback and on
foot, were immediately dispatched, to discover the wanderer. The
progress of the young adventurers had, it seems, been impeded by a
brook, or piece of water, over which Horatio could not pass; and, his
companion having gone off and left him, he was found ruminating, very
composedly, on the opposite bank. It is not ascertained, whether his
companion had got across the water, or gone back again by the way they
had approached it: whether the young hero was meditating how it might be
passed; or too weary, or unwilling, to retread all his former steps. Who
shall pretend to say, that this child, thus sitting, in a state of
abstraction, by the side of an impassable piece of water, might not
first feel that ardent thirst of nautical knowledge excited, the
gratification of which has since led to such glorious consequences! Be
this as it may--for even himself, if living, might not now be conscious
of the fact--it is perfectly well remembered that, on his being brought
into the presence of his grandmother, the old lady concluded her lecture
respecting the propriety of children's rambling abroad without the
permission of their friends, by saying--"I wonder, that fear did not
drive you home."--"Fear, grandmama," innocently replied the child, "I
never saw FEAR; what is it?"

Perhaps, the frequent repetition of this anecdote, and the admiration
which the sweet simplicity of the child's wonderful answer must
naturally create in the bosom of every virtuous friend, had no small
share in fixing his heroic character. He had never seen fear, he knew
not what it was. What a reflection for an incipient hero, when he became
capable of comprehending the full force of his own artless expression!
If he ever lived to see fear, it was only in the enemies of his country;
if to know it, it was only by name.