"Now suppose we go back to the house for a while. We have an hour or more before Stephen has to rejoin his father and you two chaps can poke about the suite. What do you say?"
Steve was all enthusiasm. He had been quietly hoping there would be a chance for him to have another peep at the wonderful steamboats.
"I'd like nothing better!" was his instant reply. "I did not see half I wanted to when I was there before, and we go home to-morrow, you know. If I don't see your ships and things to-day I never shall."
"Oh, don't say that!" Mr. Ackerman said quickly. "You and Dick and I are going to be great friends. We are not going to say good-by and never see one another any more. Sometime you will be coming to New York again, I hope. However, if he wants to have a second glimpse of our boats now we'll let him, won't we, Dick?"
Again the boy smiled a timid smile into his benefactor's face.
"I wish you'd tell me about this queer little old-fashioned boat." Page 181.
It did not take long to reach the house and soon the three were in the wonderful room with its panorama of ships moving past the windows and its flotilla of still more ships decorating the walls.
"Now you boys go ahead and entertain yourselves as you please," Mr. Ackerman said. "I am going to sit here and read the paper; but if there is anything you want to ask me you are welcome to do so."