But Roy was dumb to all appeal. He looked at his plate in silence and his face flamed like fire.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” cried the purser, springing to his feet when he saw Roy’s embarrassment, “Mr. Mercer is a man of deeds, not words. Every one of us from the captain down will feel safer because he is aboard. He evidently does not want to talk and we shall not make him. I owe him an apology for putting him in such an embarrassing position. I’ll punish myself by making a speech for him.”
The purser was both a ready and a witty speaker and for several minutes he kept the diners laughing at his good jokes. That gave Roy time to regain his composure. By the time the purser’s little speech was ended Roy was quite himself again. When those seated at his table turned to congratulate him he talked to them frankly and without embarrassment, but refused to discuss the incident the purser had described. Numbers of people spoke to him when the dinner was ended. Roy was glad when he could escape and seek the seclusion of the wireless house.
Yet he felt far from being hurt or mortified, as he considered the matter calmly in the seclusion of his own room. Every word that the purser had said was true. The engine belt was generating electricity. He had prevented a fire by his action. Of that he had not the slightest doubt. But there was nothing in what he had done that was in any sense heroic or that deserved especial mention.
Any one else, seeing the danger, would have acted to save the ship. The sole difference between himself and others who were on the scene was that he had realized the danger and they had not. But he could claim no credit for that. He was trained in electrical matters and would have been a poor wireless man, indeed, if he had not detected the danger.
The only question was whether or not he had done his part well after discovering the danger. Roy thought the matter over carefully. He could not see that there was anything else he could have done. And that belief made him feel better pleased about the matter.
He didn’t want the passengers to consider him a hero when he wasn’t a hero. But, on the whole, Roy was glad the passengers knew about the matter. He wanted to get acquainted with some of them and the incident would make that an easy matter. But most of all he was glad that the story had been told before the captain. It was worth the embarrassment he had suffered to know that the captain had had to listen to the story whether he wanted to or not, and to hear what some of the ship’s officers, including the chief engineer, thought about the matter. Yes, that certainly was worth while. Roy felt that he could almost forgive the purser for telling the story, since the captain had had to listen to it.
Suddenly a thought came to Roy. He pondered a moment over it, then called out in astonishment and mortification. “Why, you old chump!” he said to himself, “that’s the very reason the purser told the story—so that the captain would have to listen to it. If the purser had gone to him with an explanation, the captain would have shut him off as he did me when I tried to explain. All done for your own good, and here you were doubting the purser and feeling angry at him for trying to help you. I guess the captain was right when he called you a wireless infant. Thank goodness, I haven’t had a chance to say anything to the purser, or I’d probably have proved to him that I was a wireless fool as well. You bet I won’t forget this lesson—or the purser’s kindness, either.”
Presently the sober look disappeared from Roy’s face and he began to chuckle. “Slick, wasn’t it?” he muttered. “I wonder if the old dragon realizes that the purser put one over on him.”