Next came the kitchen—it would be an outrage to dub such a place a “galley”—and forward of it again came the men’s quarters, a great, airy place, well-lighted by scuttles in the ship’s sides, with sleeping accommodation for eighty men. This consisted of two tiers of hammocks, forty hammocks on either side of the room, their head-clews suspended from hooks bolted to the sides of the ship; while the foot-clews were secured to steel stanchions hinged to the deck above, and so arranged that they could be triced up out of the way when required, leaving ample room for the men’s mess tables.
I very willingly and very fully expressed my admiration for everything shown me, not only because all was well worthy of admiration, but also because I saw that it gratified my hostess, who explained to me that she had planned everything herself.
At length my inspection of the beautiful and wonderful ship came to an end. As we ascended to the deck by way of the fore-hatch ladder my hostess remarked:
“There! I guess that’s all there is to show. And,”—glancing at an elegant little watch which she wore attached to a bracelet—“my stars, if it ain’t just five o’clock! I want my tea. Do you drink tea, young man?”
“I should really enjoy a cup of tea, madam, if you would be so kind as to offer me one,” I said.
“Are you a teetotaller, then?” the lady asked.
“Well, no; hardly that,” I replied. “That is to say, I have never formally forsworn intoxicants; but I very rarely take them—never, indeed, I may say, except when I have been exposed for several hours to extreme cold, or have been wet to the skin, or something of that kind. Even then I am inclined to think a cup of scalding hot coffee really does one more good.”
“Well, I guess you’re as nearly right as makes no matter,” returned my hostess. “Now, just you come into my drawing-room, and I’ll give you a cup of real good tea. Ah! there is Lizette, my chief stewardess. I guess she is looking for me to tell me that tea is served, so come along.”
The lady was right in her surmise, for the trig, decidedly pretty, and exceedingly capable-looking young woman, in a black dress, with white cap and apron, who at that moment stepped out on deck, came forward and duly made the anticipated announcement.
It was a distinctly novel experience for me to find myself seated in that elegant apartment, drinking the most delicious tea I had ever tasted out of a hand-painted cup of china which I knew must be worth its weight in gold, munching cakes and biscuits of wonderful flavour, and being treated quite as an equal by this smartly dressed and vivacious American lady. Not the least of her charms was that she had the knack of putting one absolutely at one’s ease; and presently she began to question me about myself.