CHAPTER XX.

A LATE DINNER.

Wade was positively alarmed when he heard the captain call for the steward. Was it possible that the skipper had only half finished his breakfast, and had gone on deck for a few minutes, intending to return and complete the meal when he had looked out for the course of the yacht?

“Pollish!” shouted the captain angrily, when his first call brought no response; and the second gave no better result.

Capt. Bendig seemed to be angry, and he stalked out of the room. But Wade heard his voice a moment later, for he had discovered the steward asleep in the passage-way.

“What do you pretend to be asleep for, you rascal you?” demanded the skipper of the yacht.

“I was asleep, sir,” replied Pollish. “I have been up all night, and I was very tired.”

“Up all night, were you? And why were you up all night?” inquired the captain sharply.

“I had to look out for the vessel, you see. I did not know at what time you and the passengers were coming; and so I staid on deck all night,” replied Pollish with proper meekness. “I had the cabin lighted and every thing ready for you since seven o’clock last evening. I was sleepy; but I was afraid to lose myself for a moment. I know how particular you are, sir; and I did not leave the deck even for a minute; and it was so cold on deck I could not go to sleep there.”

One thing was certain to Wade, if it was not to any one else on board of the yacht: that Pollish was an abominable liar. It was probable that he had been on a spree with Beafbon the cook. Wade was entirely willing to refrain from telling what he knew about the matter for the present; but he stored up what he had heard for use in the future. Certainly if this man had been faithful to his duty, and had not left the fore skylight unfastened, the wanderer could not have obtained admission to the interior of the vessel.

“Don’t tell me you were asleep,” said the captain, after he had listened to the long speech of the steward. “What have you done with my beefsteak?”

“With your beefsteak, sir?” and Wade was willing to believe that he was surprised at the implied charge.

“That’s what I said! Why don’t you answer me, instead of repeating what I say? What have you done with my steak?”

“I have not done any thing with it. I put it on the table, and that is the last I saw of it,” answered Pollish; and Wade believed he told the truth, whatever opinion Capt. Bendig had on the subject.

“I know you put it on the table, and I ate part of it; then I had to go on deck to look after the course of the vessel. When I came back, the steak and half of the bread were gone. Tell the truth for once in your life, and own up that you ate it.”

“But I didn’t eat it, sir,” protested the steward.

“Then what has become of it?” demanded the captain sternly.

“I don’t know, sir. I lay down in the passage while you were eating, and I didn’t wake again till you called me. I was very tired, sir, for Beafbon and me had to work very hard in the afternoon to get the provisions and stores in; and then not to get a wink of sleep, it was more than I could stand,” protested Pollish.

“Have any of the hands been below?”

“Not that I know of, sir: if they did, they had to step over me, for I lay by the door of your room.”

“I believe you are lying. But no matter for that now: we will settle it when this cruise is up. Get me another steak.”

Pollish was not disposed to argue the matter any further, but hastened to obey the order. The captain went on deck again, and he seemed to be very attentive to the management of the vessel. As soon as the second edition of his breakfast was ready, the captain came down. Wade wished he would take his meals in the cabin, for he did not like to have him in the room, though he had the best right there. The wanderer found it prudent to breathe with the utmost care, lest he should be heard; but the swash of the sea now made noise enough to overcome any feeble sounds. He could not help thinking what the consequences would be if he should happen to cough or sneeze; and he concluded that it would be more prudent for him to choke to death than to do either. He was very thankful that he had not a cold in the head or on the lungs.

Since his stomach had been so thoroughly filled, Wade felt quite jolly. He did not like his narrow quarters under the berth, but he was tolerably happy even there. He could not help wondering how the matter would come out in the end. The captain might not again leave his breakfast for the accommodation of the passenger; and, in the course of a day or two, hunger might drive him from his hiding-place, even in the face of the wrath of the skipper. But it was no use to worry about that yet; and he did not, though he could not help thinking of the means of getting out of the scrape when he was discovered.

Capt. Bendig finished his breakfast, and went on deck. Not till then did Wade dare to change his position; and he fixed himself as comfortably as he could. He had nothing to do but think; but his thoughts were not very profitable to himself or anybody else. While he was thinking he went to sleep. The motion of the yacht seemed to make him sleepy. When he woke, he wondered if he snored. He did not know: he had never slept with any one who could give him the information. He did not intend to go to sleep in the daytime; for the captain might come to his room, and hear him.

At noon, as he judged it was, he recognized sundry savory odors which assured him the matter of dinner was not to be neglected. The skipper kept the door of the state-room closed, so that he could not tell what was going on in the cabin. At any rate, the captain did not dine in his state-room, and Wade had no chance to lay in another supply of food. The afternoon was a long one. Wade spent half of it in thinking how he should get his supper. But in the middle of the afternoon, this question seemed to be settled for him. He was hungry again, for ten or twelve hours had elapsed since he had his early breakfast with Capt. Bendig.

“Pollish!” called the skipper.

“Here, sir,” replied the steward, presenting himself at the door of the state-room from which the captain called him.

“Get me a steak, with fried potatoes,” added the captain.

“In the cabin, sir?”

“No: you know I never take my meals in the cabin when there are passengers on board. In this room.”

This was hopeful, at least, for Wade; for he thought there would be a chance for him to get a piece of bread, if nothing more. It was clear now that Capt. Bendig had not dined, or even lunched, unless the food had been carried to him on deck. He placed himself so that he could look out into the room, for he felt obliged to watch his opportunity. He saw the steward set the table; and in less than half an hour Pollish placed a beefsteak on the table, and then passed into the cabin to call the captain, who was on deck.

As quick as lightning, Wade sprang out of his den; and, seeing two slices of sirloin on the table, he took one of them, with a couple of cuts of bread, and returned to his abode beneath the berth. Burying himself beneath the old garments, or rather piling them up like a breastwork in front of him, he proceeded to devour the beef and bread before the captain came down, or to do as much as possible towards it.

“I think the ship is in sight, Mr. Wallgood,” said the captain, as he paused at the door on his way to his room. “There is a large ship ahead, which is not doing all she can with this lively breeze; and I think she is the ‘Housatonic.’”

“Is that the name of the ship we are to cross the ocean in?” asked Mrs. Wallgood, who spoke as though she was better reconciled to the voyage than when Wade had heard from her last.

“That is Capt. Crogick’s ship. I thought we should overhaul her before night with this breeze,” replied Capt. Bendig.

He entered his room, and seated himself at the table. Wade promptly suspended the movements of his jaws. He did not stir; he did not breathe aloud. For some time Capt. Bendig plied his knife and fork with vigor, and the waif under his berth could hear the crisp fried potatoes snap in his teeth.

“Pollish!” called he at last.

“Here, sir,” replied the steward, who waited in the passage for further orders.

“Where is the cook?”

“At the galley, sir.”

“Send him to me.”

In a moment Beafbon appeared at the door of the state-room; and he looked so humble that he evidently expected a blowing-up for something. It was more likely that he supposed it related to his spree the night before, than to the real cause.

“Beafbon, how often must I tell you the same thing before you can understand me?” said the captain, introducing his subject in a proper manner.

“I don’t want to be told any thing more than once, captain,” replied the cook, relieved when he found that he was not sent for on account of the spree.

“Good! but how many times have I told you that I wanted more than one slice of these small sirloins? I don’t eat but two meals a day, and I want enough.”

Wade felt that his time had come.

“But I cooked two for you; and, if you did not get two, it is because the steward did not bring both of them to you,” protested Beafbon earnestly. “I mean to obey all orders; and I know you want two of those small steaks as well as I know my own name.”

“Pollish again! I think he stole my breakfast this morning too,” added Capt. Bendig. “What have you done with that other steak, Pollish? for you have not had time to eat it since I was called, and I have had my eye on you since I came below.”

“I haven’t touched the steaks, sir,” pleaded poor Pollish; and Wade really felt bad to have him falsely charged with the theft; but then, what was a hungry boy to do?

“Don’t lie, Pollish! you did the same thing this morning.”

“No, sir, neither then nor now; and I am willing to take my oath there were two slices on the dish when I put it on the table,” replied the steward.

“Get me another steak, Beafbon: we will settle these matters when we have more time than now.”

The captain went on deck to wait for the rest of his dinner.