"The captain wants to see you," said a young officer from the bridge, as Tom sat with his flippant but now humble admirer, Archibald Archer, upon one of the after-hatches.
"Me?" stammered Tom.
"He's going to make you first mate," said Archer, "and give you ten thousand dollars—go ahead."
"What?" said Tom.
"That's the way they do in the Dick Dauntless Series; go ahead—beat it!"
Tom followed the officer forward and up those awful steps which led to the holy of holies where the master of the ship held his autocratic sway.
The captain sat in a sumptuously furnished cabin, and Tom stood before him, holding his cap in one hand, clutching his long, starched sleeve with the other, and greatly awed at the surroundings.
"You said something about understanding wireless," said the captain. "Do you think you could be of assistance to the operator?"
"I ain't—I'm not an operator," stammered Tom, "but I know the American code and the International code and some of the International abbreviations. I can send and receive with my own instrument, but it's a kind of—not exactly a toy, but——"
"Hmm. What I mean is, could you work under the operator's direction, so that he could get a little sleep now and then? He'd sleep right in the wireless room."