“So would I,” was my response. “It would be quite a pleasure to meet a policeman if he would guarantee to send a message home to say we were all right.”
Though we were, perhaps, rather a harum-scarum pair of youngsters, we were not altogether graceless. We were very sincerely troubled about this matter. As it happened, however, our trouble was superfluous. Though we were not made aware of the fact until long afterwards, it may be well to say at once that our parents had already found out where we were, and, knowing that we were well capable of taking care of ourselves, so far from being overwhelmed with anxiety on our account, they were almost disposed to chuckle over the predicament in which they guessed we must be.
If only we could have known this, what a difference it would have made to our comfort!
But two healthy boys cannot long remain in a doleful frame of mind, and under the genial influence of the cold ham we presently began to brighten up.
“That Purser is a jolly old buffer,” said I; “I only hope the Captain is half as good a fellow. Suppose they let us work our passage, what shall we do when we get to New Orleans?”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” replied Percy. “First of all, as soon as ever we set foot on shore, we must telegraph home, if it takes every cent we possess. Then, I propose that we take one of the big river-steamers up to St. Louis,—working our passage, if they’ll let us,—and from there turn eastward, ride as far as our money will take us, and walk the rest of the way to Philadelphia. I have lots of relations in Philadelphia, and they will help us. What do you think?”
I readily acquiesced in Percy’s plan; as, indeed, I should have done in any other he might have proposed. It was not likely that I should be able to contribute any valuable suggestions on the subject, for my knowledge of American geography and American distances was quite microscopic in its littleness. Of St. Louis I had never heard before, while as to the other two cities, I knew that one was somewhere in the South and the other somewhere in the East, and that was all. How far apart they might be I had no idea.
It was well we settled upon a plan of action while we had the chance, for, as it happened, we were destined to have few opportunities of conversing during the rest of the voyage. One of the stewards presently came in with a message from the Purser, to say that the Captain could not see us until next day, and that he—the Steward—would find us a bed. Accordingly, after going on deck in the forward part of the ship to get a breath of fresh air for half an hour, we went to bed and slept soundly until next morning.
Soon after breakfast, our friend (as we had come to regard him) the Purser came and told us to follow him to the Captain’s cabin. It was with a good deal of apprehension that we entered the sanctum of the monarch of this little floating kingdom, but as there was nothing else to be done we plucked up such courage as was left to us and stepped over the threshold.
The Captain was a grey-haired, clean-shaven little man, with a keen eye and a quick manner. He looked up as we came in.