“I’m the new office boy,” said Willie, quietly, feeling an instant and instinctive dislike for the lad before him.
“You are, hey?” said the lad, giving Willie an ugly stare. “Well, you’re a deuce of an office boy!” and the fellow swore noisily. Then, after another stare, he went on, “Whose cradle did they rob to get you, huh?”
At this reference to his size, Willie flushed angrily. The lad who was talking to him was a full head taller than Willie, and yet he was a full year younger. Willie, of course, did not know that, but he instantly guessed that the office boy had not had nearly as much schooling as he himself had had. Willie was right, for the office boy had never even gotten into high school.
Willie’s impulse was to make an angry and cutting reply, but he restrained himself. It wouldn’t do, he thought, to get into a quarrel with his predecessor before he himself was actually installed in office. And no sooner had Willie thought that than it occurred to him that perhaps the lad before him was trying to pick a quarrel with him. He might want to discredit him, or he might want to give him a beating. There wasn’t any question that the lad probably could whip him in a fight. Not only was the boy a head taller than Willie, but he probably weighed forty pounds more than Willie. So Willie decided to take a tight rein on himself. He sat still and made no reply.
The insolent office boy promptly tried another line of attack. He began to question Willie, as though he were examining him for the place. But at that juncture Mr. King came bustling in. Willie was greatly relieved when the tall Special Agent stepped through the doorway.
“Hello, Willie!” he cried, seeing his new helper. “Glad to see you’re on hand promptly.” Then the Special Agent turned to the big office boy. “Tom,” he said, “I wish you’d show this boy just what his duties are, before you go to your new job.”
The big lad took Willie in charge and instructed him in his new duties. “You sit at this here desk,” he said, “and when anybody comes in, you see that he gets to the Chief quick. See? And you answer the buzzer when Mr. King rings. See? And you take care of his desk and his mail. See?” The lad glanced quickly round. Mr. King was not in his room. The old office boy stepped into it and beckoned to Willie. “You gotta keep the ink-wells filled and good pens on the desk. You’ll find them in that cupboard. Be sure you keep several on the desk. And when the mail comes, grab it quick and put it on the boss’s desk. Don’t do a thing to it, but put it on his desk. He don’t want anybody to monkey with his mail. And you’ll have to clean out these spittoons twice every day. About the middle of the morning and the middle of the afternoon you want to take them down-stairs to the wash-room and clean them out. See? The boss is awful particular about it.”
“Where is the wash-room?” asked Willie.
“The elevator man will show you. I couldn’t exactly tell you how to find it.”
Just then the Special Agent came into the room and sat down at his desk. The office boy promptly withdrew, and Willie followed. The office boy gave him some further directions and disappeared. Willie sat down at his desk in the anteroom. Almost at once the buzzer sounded, startling Willie so that he fairly jumped from his chair. He stepped to the Special Agent’s desk.