Sue Brown was very seldom afraid of anything. She and Bunny had gone through so many strange adventures and nothing had happened to them—that is, nothing of any account—that Sue was inclined to believe that nothing ever would happen. She had been lost more than once, and she had appealed to all sorts of persons—even tramps—to help her find her way home, and she had always reached home.
“And I guess I’m lost now down here in the cellar of this ship,” thought Sue. “Maybe this is a tramp to tell me how to get upstairs again.”
Sue spoke of things on the ship as she would of things at home—“down cellar and upstairs.”
The big, black man came nearer and nearer, and as he passed beneath an electric light Sue could see that he was not a negro, which she had at first taken him to be. He was black from coal dust that covered his face, hands, and clothes.
“Hello, little girl!” called the big man, and his voice was very friendly. “What are you doing down in the stoke hold?”
“Is this the stoke hold?” asked Sue. “I thought it was the cellar.”
“Ha! ha!” laughed the man. “Well, it is like a cellar, isn’t it, little girl? But what are you doing down here?”
“I—now—I guess I’m lost,” replied Sue.
“Well, if you’re lost, then I’ve found you,” said the man, his eyes looking strange in his black face. “You’re one of the passengers, I guess.”
“Yes,” said Sue, “Bunny and I are going to the West Indies, and maybe we’ll find Mr. Pott’s lost son and the treasure.”