"There's many a truth spoken in jest," Bob reminded him.
"Don't I know it?" Jack retorted. "I mean just what the song says. I reckon we're going to see more or less rough weather before we get to the end of this voyage."
It was characteristic of the two boys that by the time they were passing through The Narrows they were more or less acquainted with every member of the crew, including Wong, the Chinese cook. Wong was of uncertain age. He might have been fifty, and then again, as Jack put it, he might just as well be a hundred and fifty. Later he confided to them in secret that he was eighty. His face was deeply furrowed with wrinkles and his slanting eyes were deep set beneath heavy brows, and he still clung to his pig tail, which reached far below his waist But, if his looks were against him, his disposition, as Jack put it, was in inverse ratio to his looks, and they took instant liking to the old man, and, as it afterward turned out, he was no less favorably impressed with them.
"Them velly fine boys, we catch um plenty much fun," he told the captain soon after their first trip to the galley.
Down in the engine room they next made the acquaintance of Chief Engineer Wallace MacDonald, a large weather-beaten Scotchman and his assistant, a young red-headed Irishman, who answered to the name of Sandy. Then there were four deck hands, three of whom were Yankees and the other a Swede. These, together with an Irish lad, Jerry Finagin, who waited on the table and washed dishes and made himself useful in other ways, and another boy, who answered to the name of Patsy Malone, and to whom was intrusted the care of the cabins, completed the crew. "And they're one fine bunch, I'm telling you," Jack whispered to Bob, as they were leaning over the rail watching Sandy Hook sink beneath the horizon.
Just as the last glimpse of land disappeared the gong rang for supper and they hurried to the officers' mess room where they found their uncle together with the captain and first mate awaiting them. There was no doubt in their minds after that first meal regarding Wong's ability as a cook, and Mr. Lakewood complimented the captain on his selection.
"He's cooked for me before," Captain Ole told them, "and I knew you'd be pretty hard to suit if he didn't fill the bill."
"Well, he's already filled my stomach," Jack laughed, and Bob added: "And the filling's been pretty good stuff let me tell you."
The Valkyrie was equipped with an up-to-date wireless and a radio receiving set. Mr. Lakewood had proposed taking an operator but the boys had persuaded him that it was unnecessary as they were both licensed operators and either of them could fill the bill, as Jack put it. Before leaving New York, Bob had sent a telegram to his father telling him when they were to sail and instructing him that they would try to send him a picture at ten o'clock that night. So, as soon as the meal was over, they hurried to their cabin and for a couple of hours busied themselves setting up the machine.
"There, I reckon she's all right now," Bob said as he finished the adjustment of a condenser.