"In my intercourse with him I shall take pleasure in dropping it," added the planter. "But, Captain Alick,—excuse me if I am too familiar."
"I am seldom called by any other name, and I have not the slightest objection to the name," I interposed.
"As I was going to say, Captain Alick, I am not a little embarrassed by the situation. You and your associates have rendered me an important service, and it would afford me very great satisfaction to acknowledge it. You are the captain of the steamer, and your father is a very wealthy man."
"He is, sir," I replied; for I wished to leave no doubt in his mind on this subject.
"Your mate was very efficient. What is he?"
"He is the son of a distinguished ex-governor of one of the States, and the nephew of——"
"Precisely so; I know his uncle very well. I can do nothing for him. And your two deckhands?" continued the planter.
"They are the sons of English gentlemen, over here on a vacation, and their fathers have each an income of over ten thousand pounds a-year," I added, quietly.
"Your engineer, whose skill and pluck carried us through the crevasse, is, I dare say, one of the sons of her Majesty, the Queen of England," added the passenger, laughing.
"On the contrary, he is a son of a Michigan farmer, now well to do in the world," I replied.