Just then Billy reappeared, and with a broad grin on his face, addressed the Chairman.
“I’m mighty sorry to have troubled you, sir, about that key. I guess the works inside my thinker have run down, sir.” Then, turning to Mr. Jackson, “Perhaps I’d better wait until after the cruise, uncle, and I’ll bring you the keelson in my gripsack!”
“He seems to be the right stuff!” remarked the Chairman as Billy walked off.
Having found out from the Captain the exact position and use of the keelson—to bind the ship’s timbers to the keel—Bill lost no time in spreading the information among the ship’s company after their return on board. He was as much interested in sharing a new piece of information as he was in acquiring it originally; and before supper was over, the story of his investigation and its result had spread from quarter-deck to forecastle.
That evening, after the riding lights were up, two choice spirits were cleaning the sidelights, and, hoping to squeeze a little more fun out of Bill, casually remarked:
“Look—Brown—hurry up, will you, and get me the green oil for the starboard light!”
Billy, in his great desire to help, started toward the companionway, then hesitated, and finally turned back, remarking dryly:
“I guess, Johnnie, if you want to go find it yourself, you’ll find the green oil just alongside the red oil, and you’ll find them both—I should say—in the same locker with the ‘key of the keelson’.”
Soon after this, the Triangle Club met in the jib netting.
“What do you think of the new fellow—Brown?” asked Dick.