When the Admiral had passed out of the breakwater into the lake, Captain Perkins called the first mate, gave him some instructions, and then descended from the bridge.
“I’ll show you your staterooms,” he said, as he joined the boys. “Hey, some of you deck hands, fetch that dunnage this way!”
The members of the crew who had inspected Ted and Phil interestedly, because they had been brought to the boat by one of the owners, were even more impressed at the skipper’s words, for seldom does a captain escort passengers to their cabins, usually delegating the task to one of his mates, and several sprang to get the bags and packages.
The boys, however, were before them, and as they picked them up, Phil said:
“We don’t wish to cause any bother, Captain Perkins.”
“You just bet we don’t. Why, we even want you to let us work with the crew,” added Ted, to whom so doing seemed more like a lark than real labour.
“We’ll see about that later,” smiled the skipper. “You deck hands, get busy sweeping the decks! On the jump now!” And when the sailors obeyed, he led the way to the staterooms in the bow.
“Isn’t this ‘scrumptious’!” cried Ted, as they entered a spacious cabin, finished in Flemish oak, with silk-curtained windows, heavy carpet, two brass beds in lieu of the traditional bunks, tables, electric lights and fans, and comfortable lounging chairs. “I never imagined they had such cabins on anything but private yachts or ocean steamers.”
“Every ore carrier has them nowadays for owners and their guests,” smiled the captain, adding with a tinge of bitterness which all lake skippers and sailors feel: “Some day people will realize that lake boats are as important and require even more skill to handle than salt-water vessels. Wait until we go up the Detroit and St. Mary’s rivers, then you will understand what I mean. Why, a salt-water skipper would think he must have a fleet of tugs to do what is but a matter of daily routine with us. And a six-hundred-foot boat is no toy to handle in the storms, fogs, and ice we have, either. But maybe you’ll have the chance to see for yourselves. I’m going down to the engine room,—would you like to come?”
Eagerly the boys accepted the invitation, glad to see all the working of the ship they could, but they did not know that the chief danger to the boat lay in the engine and boiler rooms from ignorance of the crew in regard to the machinery or from faulty firing, burning out the flues of the boilers, or dynamite in the coal.