Seizing Wild Charley's hand, he pressed it cordially, saying:
"Oh, please do this for me. I will be so thankful."
"What's your name?"
"Tommy Smithers. They call me Soft Tommy sometimes, because I get things kinder mixed up now and then."
"I should guess you were soft when you let the ship slip from her moorings and take you across to the other side. Why, what on earth are you to do when you reach Liverpool?"
"Work my passage back, I suppose."
"Not so easily done as said," answered Charley. "You don't meet with a good-natured fellow like me every day."
"Will you do what you can for me?"
"Yes. Come below. Dinner is just being served, and it is my busy time. I'll say a few words to the purser and chief steward, which will fix things, and all you'll have to do will be to take the word from me and do as you are told," answered Wild Charley.
They descended the hatchway, and Tommy found a job in washing up plates and cleaning knives and forks.