"I do like a good dinner, and enjoy one very much," replied the worthy trustee of the young millionaire. "But I doubt if I am any more devoted to such a banquet as we get every day than my beloved friend, Brother Adipose Tissue, and all the rest of the voyagers all over the world."
"I plead guilty to the charge of Brother Avoirdupois; and I acknowledge myself to be a worshipper at the shrine of Mr. Melancthon Sage, and I invoke a blessing upon the head of Monsieur Odervie, the chief cook. Our life on the ocean wave is a constant promotive of the appetite. If the proof of the pudding is not in the eating of the bag, it is in the eating of the dinners; and I think we pay an abundant tribute to the talent of Mr. Sage, the prince of stewards, in the quantity of the well-cooked food he causes to be placed before us."
"We get through dinner about seven o'clock. I see that the accomplished chief steward is standing at the door," continued Louis. "Now, Mr. Sage, would it be possible and convenient for you to have another dinner on the table, say at eight o'clock, an hour after the first feast had been finished?"
"Quite possible, and even convenient; the only persons to complain of such an arrangement would be the cooks and stewards," replied Mr. Sage.
"Captain Ringgold, might I so far presume upon any influence I may have with you as the owner of the Guardian-Mother to request you to order a second dinner to be served at eight in the evening, beginning, say, with to-morrow evening?" asked the young millionaire, looking as serious as though he was about to preach a sermon, though the party were generally laughing.
"As I have always told you, I take my orders from the owner; and if you desire such a dinner, I shall certainly give Mr. Sage an order to that effect," replied the commander.
"But who is to eat the dinner after it is provided, an hour after the passengers have gorged themselves at the table?" demanded Dr. Hawkes. "Is this a conspiracy to make more work for the surgeon?"
"Not at all," protested Louis. "It is to give the gentlemen who question so closely an opportunity to have an abundance of a good thing."
"But we could not eat the dinner," said Uncle Moses. "We are not hogs."
"Oh, you are not!" chuckled the owner.