“Gee!” Dick seemed to grow two inches taller in the next minute, and then rushed off to find Chippie and Tom.
CHAPTER III
Jack—Chief Boatswain’s Mate
The next evening Jack cleared the table for his mother after supper and got the dining room all snug and shipshape. His own room was very small and at the top of the house; and, as his mother had offered to bring in some refreshments for the boys later in the evening, Jack asked permission to hold his meeting in the dining room.
His father had gone out to his Lodge, and Mrs. Perkins was very much interested in Jack’s interview with the younger boys. Her father had been a sea captain, and there was a picture of one of his ships hanging over the mantelpiece in this very room. Some beautiful large shells which he had brought home from one of his voyages stood over the fireplace, under the picture of his vessel, the Sally Smart—an old-fashioned clipper ship—famous in her time for her speed and style. The whole room had a somewhat nautical flavor; and in one corner was a low long lounge with a broad shelf partially overhanging it, which gave the general appearance of a ship’s bunk.
When Jack had won the cup for the broad jump, representing the Northbridge High School, Mrs. Perkins, in her motherly pride, had put the pewter cup alongside of her father’s shells on the mantelpiece.
It was a warm, spring evening. The scent of the lilacs was wafted in through the open door, and Jack could hear the boys’ footsteps as they came through the dooryard up to the porch. He met them at the door and led them into the dining room.
“You come right in here, kiddies, and make yourselves at home. You might as well get into the bunk there in the corner, all of you, and be as comfortable as you can before I begin with you, for I hope to get you good and tired by the time I get through!”
The small chaps could not help feeling at ease under the influence of Jack’s cordiality. He was really glad to see them, and they knew it, and so they took him at his word, and all three—Dick, Tom, and Chippie—snuggled into the bunk together, half sprawling and half sitting, like a litter of young pups.
“Fire away now,” cried Dick, “we don’t care whether school keeps or not; and, whatever you’ve got to say, I guess we can stand it!”
“Well,” replied Jack, “joking apart, I’m feeling pretty well this evening myself, for I have just had news from Mr. Miller that I am appointed Chief Boatswain’s Mate of the Bright Wing for the first cruise. Now, you lazy lubbers, take notice that the Chief Boatswain’s Mate is the father of the crew, and you’ve got to mind what I tell you, or you will have to stand on the seam, or walk the plank, or do anything else that Dad says.”