“Good boy,” cried the purser. “I thought I wasn’t mistaken in you. I’ll back you to succeed, Roy.”
“I’ll need a whole lot of backing,” laughed Roy, “if I am ever to get anywhere with Captain Lansford. He sure has it in for me.”
“Just forget about him and keep on plugging,” said the purser. “You’ll swear by him when you know him better.”
“Come on, lad,” suggested the purser, pulling on his coat. “No old ship’s grub for us to-day. We’ll have a bite of real southern cooking.”
He hooked his arm in Roy’s and they hustled up the gangplank and down the wharf toward a near-by restaurant, where they had chicken gumbo soup, fried chicken, hot corn bread, Mexican coffee, so strong it almost made Roy sick, and a number of other dishes that were strange and wonderful to Roy.
The purser was feeling very complacent by the time they returned to the ship.
“What do we do next?” asked Roy. “I’m eager to learn some more about a purser’s work.”
“We’re going to tackle a little job that is always part of this purser’s business when he is in Galveston, and that will be as interesting to you, I suspect, as it is new.”
He leaned forward and punched the call bell. In a few moments Sam, the steward, appeared.
“What can I do for yuh, Mistah Robbins, suh?” he inquired, bowing and smiling.
“You know that little job I always do down here with a pound of white meat, Sam?”
“’Deed I does, suh,” chuckled the darky, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, then you know what to do, Sam. I want you to fix us up in your very best style. Mr. Mercer has never dangled a bit of white meat.”
Sam went out, chuckling aloud, and Roy was too astonished for words. He didn’t like to ask questions, for the purser had once admonished him to keep his eyes open and his mouth shut if he wished to get ahead in the world; so he waited for the purser to explain. But Mr. Robbins gave him no hint of what to expect. All he said was, “We’ll just check off this last list while Sam is getting us ready.” But Roy could see that the purser’s eyes were dancing.
Before they were done with the check-list, Sam reappeared. He had two large chunks of whitish meat, each piece weighing a pound or more, and each being attached to a long length of strong cord.