It is on the darers, not on the audacious, that Fortune almost always smiled.
The audacious may be unguarded.
The darer thinks first, acts afterwards.
There is the difference!
Dick Sand was audens.
At fifteen he already knew how to take a part, and to carry out to the end whatever his resolute spirit had decided upon.
His manner, at once spirited and serious, attracted attention.
He did not squander himself in words and gestures, as boys of his age generally do.
Early, at a period of life when they seldom discuss the problems of existence, he had looked his miserable condition in the face, and he had promised "to make" himself.
And he had made himself—being already almost a man at an age when others are still only children.
At the same time, very nimble, very skilful in all physical exercises, Dick Sand was one of those privileged beings, of whom it may be said that they were born with two left feet and two right hands. In that way, they do everything with the right hand, and always set out with the left foot.
Public charity, it has been said, had brought up the little orphan.
He had been put first in one of those houses for children, where there is always, in America, a place for the little waifs.
Then at four, Dick learned to read, write and count in one of those State of New York schools, which charitable subscriptions maintain so generously.
At eight, the taste for the sea, which Dick had from birth, caused him to embark as cabin-boy on a packet ship of the South Sea.
There he learned the seaman's trade, and as one ought to learn it, from the earliest age.
Little by little he instructed himself under the direction of officers who were interested in this little old man.
So the cabin-boy soon became the novice, expecting something better, of course.
The child who understands, from the beginning, that work is the law of life, the one who knows, from an early age, that he will gain his bread only by the sweat of his brow—a Bible precept which is the rule of humanity—that one is probably intended for great things; for some day he will have, with the will, the strength to accomplish them.
It was, when he was a cabin-boy on board a merchant vessel, that Dick Sand was remarked by Captain Hull.
This honest seaman immediately formed a friendship with this honest young boy, and later he made him known to the ship-owner, James W. Weldon.
The latter felt a lively interest in this orphan, whose education he completed at San Francisco, and he had him brought up in the Catholic religion, to which his family adhered.
During the course of his studies, Dick Sand showed a particular liking for geography, for voyages, while waiting till he was old enough to learn that branch of mathematics which relates to navigation. Then to this theoretical portion of his instruction, he did not neglect to join the practical.
It was as novice that he was able to embark for the first time on the "Pilgrim."
A good seaman ought to understand fishing as well as navigation.
It is a good preparation for all the contingencies which the maritime career admits of.
Besides, Dick Sand set out on a vessel of James W. Weldon's, his benefactor, commanded by his protector, Captain Hull.
Thus he found himself in the most favorable circumstances.
To speak of the extent of his devotion to the Weldon family, to whom he owed everything, would be superfluous.
Better let the facts speak for themselves.
But it will be understood how happy the young novice was when he learned that Mrs. Weldon was going to take passage on board the
"Pilgrim."
Mrs. Weldon for several years had been a mother to him, and in Jack he saw a little brother, all the time keeping in remembrance his position in respect to the son of the rich ship-owner.
But—his protectors knew it well—this good seed which they had sown had fallen on good soil.
The orphan's heart was filled with gratitude, and some day, if it should be necessary to give his life for those who had taught him to instruct himself and to love God, the young novice would not hesitate to give it.
Finally, to be only fifteen, but to act and think as if he were thirty, that was Dick Sand.
Mrs. Weldon knew what her protege was worth.
She could trust little Jack with him without any anxiety.
Dick Sand cherished this child, who, feeling himself loved by this "large brother," sought his company.
During those long leisure hours, which are frequent in a voyage, when the sea is smooth, when the well set up sails require no management, Dick and Jack were almost always together.
The young novice showed the little boy everything in his craft which seemed amusing.
Without fear Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the whole length of the backstays.
Dick Sand went before or followed him, always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms grew feeble during those exercises.
All that benefited little Jack, whom sickness had made somewhat pale; but his color soon came back on board the "Pilgrim," thanks to this gymnastic, and to the bracing sea-breezes.
So passed the time.
Under these conditions the passage was being accomplished, and only the weather was not very favorable, neither the passengers nor the crew of the "Pilgrim" would have had cause to complain.
Meanwhile this continuance of east winds made Captain Hull anxious.
He did not succeed in getting the vessel into the right course.
Later, near the Tropic of Capricorn, he feared finding calms which would delay him again, without speaking of the equatorial current, which would irresistibly throw him back to the west.
He was troubled then, above all, for Mrs. Weldon, by the delays for which, meanwhile, he was not responsible.