Most men, so circumstanced, would have returned, but Bolt never laid his hand to the plough and looked back.

Besides, one course was quite easy to him as another.

Whatever he undertook he usually completed, in some fashion or other, though it were often much better had it never been attempted.
Fortunately it was summer, the wind was fair, and the crew wanted little ordering; and as it was quite a matter of course to steer in the right direction, until the schooner was carried safely into her proper port, she arrived safely; her people swearing that the new mate was the easiest and _cleverest_ officer they had ever sailed with.

And well they might, for Ithuel took care not to issue an order until he had heard it suggested in terms by one of the hands; and then he never failed to repeat it, word for word, as if it were a suggestion of his own.

As for the reputation of "cleverest" officer, which he so easily obtained, it will be understood, of course, that the term was used in the provincial signification that is so common in the part of the world from which Ithuel came.