Having recovered from his seasickness by this time, he was, of course, very hungry, and the savory odors that came from the cabin every time the door was opened served to quicken his appetite. He hung up his cap, and was about to turn on the water, when the ubiquitous steward once more appeared.
“Now, pard, this won’t do, either,” said he, taking hold of the boy’s arm and waving his hand toward the door.
“Why not?” demanded Guy, trying to throw off the steward’s grasp. “I want to wash before supper, don’t I?”
“If you do you will find plenty of buckets on the main deck.”
“I am not in the habit of washing in buckets, and I sha’n’t do it,” replied Guy, greatly astonished.
“Oh, that’s the way the wind sets, is it?” exclaimed the steward, changing his tone and manner in an instant. “You’re standing on your dignity, are you, you dead beat? Now mark you,” he added, shaking his finger in the boy’s face, “if I catch you as far aft as this gangway again I’ll walk you for’ard by the nape of the neck. Now get out o’ this! Out you go, with a jump.”
Guy did not go with a jump exactly, but he went with a very strong push, for the steward, exerting all his strength, flung him headlong through the door, and kicked his cap after him. Bob stood by, wiping his hands, and, as Guy made his hasty exit, he chuckled audibly, and gave the steward an approving wink.
When he went into the cabin to supper he jingled some silver in his pocket, and shook his head in a very wise and knowing manner.
“You’ll come out at the top of the heap before I do, will you?” he soliloquized. “It looks like it now, does it not? You’re not sharp enough to make your way in this wicked world, my innocent young friend. I was as poor as you were yesterday morning, and now I’ve got forty dollars to help me along. A fig for such fellows as you! I am better off without you.”
Guy, filled with rage and grief, picked up his cap and made his way forward. He fully realized now what it was to be adrift in the world. With no money in his pocket, no friend to whom he could go for advice or assistance, and with the prospect before him of being put off the boat in a strange place and among strange people, his situation was indeed a trying one.