Mother made no objection, although the hour was getting late, and she smiled, too, when she saw Russ slip into his jacket again and follow his father out of the stateroom. On the deck Russ burst out with:
"I promised I wouldn't tell anybody. But when I gave him his supper I told him I'd just have to tell my father, I was afraid; and he said he didn't have any father and he didn't know whether fathers wouldn't 'snitch,' and I said my father wouldn't."
"I see," said Mr. Bunker gravely. "You recommended me as being a safe person to trust a secret with. I am glad you did so."
"Yes, sir. For you see he's got to be fed until we get to Charleston."
"Do you mind telling me who this new friend of yours is, and where he is, and why he must be fed?"
"He's a sailor boy. He belongs on a destroyer and got left at Boston when his ship started for Charleston two days ago."
"He is in the Navy?" exclaimed Mr. Bunker, in surprise.
"Yes, sir. And he spent all his money and did not know how to get down there where the fleet will be in winter quarters, he says, unless he went secretly on one of these steamers."
"He is stealing his passage, then?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"I suppose he is, Daddy," said Russ, ruefully enough. "He is in a boat, all covered up with canvas. Up there on the deck. I can show you. I found him quite by myself, and I was sorry for him, 'specially when he said he didn't have anything to eat. And he said, would I keep still about it? And at first I said I would."