The two young clerks remained longer, to go over certain documents
with their employer, and receive his final instructions. When they
had departed, Ishmael went into his bedroom, where he found the
professor waiting for him.

"At last!" said the latter, as his master entered.

"What, Morris, you up yet? Do you know what time it is?" demanded
Ishmael, in surprise.

"Yes, sir; it is two o'clock in the morning."

"Then you know you ought to have been in bed, hours ago."

"Law, Mr. Worth--I couldn't have slept, sir, if I had gone to bed.
I'm rising sixty years old, but I am just as much excited over this
voyage to England as if I was a boy of sixteen. To think I shall see
St. Paul's Cathedral, sir! Aint the thought of that enough to keep a
man's eyes open all night? And to think it is all through you, young
Ish--Mr. Worth. If it wasn't for you, I might be vegetating on, in
that cabin, in old St. Mary's, with no more chance of improving my
mind than the cattle that browse around it. God bless you, sir!"

"Ah, professor, if at your age I have such a fresh, young, evergreen
heart, and such an aspiring, progressive spirit as yours, I shall
think the Lord has blessed me. But now go to bed, old friend, and
recruit your strength for the journey. Though 'the spirit is
willing, the flesh is weak,' you know. The soul is immortal, but the
body is perishable; so you must take care of it."