CHAPTER XV. JACK STAPLES.
Professor Puffer had a grievance. He had sent on board a good supply of whisky—sufficient to last him through the voyage—but the greater part of this had mysteriously disappeared. Whether it had been carried to the wrong vessel or not could not be ascertained. At any rate, he had to do without it, and this to a man of the professor’s tastes was a great deprivation.
He was quite ready to buy some, and applied to the captain, but Captain Smith had no more than he desired for his own use. He occasionally invited the professor to take a glass, in his own cabin, but this by no means satisfied Mr. Puffer. The enforced abstinence made him irritable, and he vented this irritation on Bernard, with the result of making the boy shun his company.
“Where do you keep yourself all the time?” asked Professor Puffer, one afternoon. “I haven’t seen you for hours.”
“Have you any work for me to do?” asked Bernard hopefully.
“No. I shall do no work on board ship.”
“Would you like to have me read to you?”
“You may read the morning paper if you can find one,” sneered the professor.
But it appeared that Professor Puffer had nothing for him to do, and had only complained of his absence because he was irritable, and wanted something to find fault with.