“Pig-iron.”
“It won’t interest me to see it, and, besides, I’ve been down in the hold quite a spell already.”
“How are things there?”
“To tell the truth, I didn’t see very much; I had business of my own before I’d been there many minutes. You’ll need a lantern.”
Then Sam went over the rail into the boat which had come alongside to take him off, Benny following close behind as a matter of course, and when the two were on shore again the surfman said:
“It would have been odd if I’d dropped onto that metal without doing myself some serious injury. There’s no longer any question, lad, but that you pulled me out of a bad place.”
“I’m glad,” Benny replied emphatically.
“Accordin’ to my way of thinkin’ there’d be more reason for gladness if I had never been such a bloomin’ idiot as to go down there.”
“Perhaps so, sir; but, so long as you did, I’m glad I was the one who pulled you out, for it’s likely to be the only chance I’ll ever have of doing you a favor.”
“I’m not so certain of that, No. 8, if you stay around the station as long as we’ll be glad to have you. In this life of ours there are many times when a fellow’s mate can do very much toward savin’ his life, an’ you’re just the kind of a comrade who can be depended upon to do pretty near the right thing at the right time.”