"I have less to lose than you," answered Tom. "Besides, I shall have to have a roommate, as there are two berths."
"Precisely, and I might be safer than some. I have a great mind to keep on. I shall see some one on the pier in Marietta by whom I can send word to my family. By the way, I have a son about your age, and a daughter two years younger."
"Have you, sir?" asked Tom, with interest.
"I should like you to meet them. Perhaps you may some day."
"I hope I may," said Tom politely.
"I am a manufacturer," continued Mr. Waterbury, "and sell my goods chiefly in Pittsburg and Cincinnati. From these places they are forwarded farther east and west."
"I suppose that's a pretty good business, sir?"
"Sometimes; but there are intervals of depression. However, I have no right to complain. I began a poor boy, and now I am moderately rich."
"Were you as poor as I am?" inquired Tom, beginning to feel a personal interest in his companion's career.
"Quite so, I fancy. At the age of sixteen I couldn't call myself the owner of five dollars."