Bob Strongs Holidays | Page 7

you going to do now, eh?"
"Please, sir, I dunno," replied Dick, looking puzzled.
"Humph, that's a pretty state of things for an independent young
gentleman running away to sea!" said the Captain in a quizzing tone.
"Do you know you're not half out of the scrape yet? You have got into
the train all right; but, how are you going to get out of it, eh--tell me
that, my lad?"
"I dunno, sir," again answered Dick laconically, still seeming unmoved

by the critical nature of his position--"I dunno, sir."
"Drat the boy!" exclaimed the Captain impatiently, stamping his foot.
"There you are again with your `dunno!' Why, when we arrive at
Portsmouth, the collector will be asking for your ticket; what will you
say then, eh?"
"I thought, sir, of jumping out afore the train got there, sir," said Dick,
scratching his head reflectively. "Aye, I did."
"Broke your neck, probably!" growled the old Captain. "The best thing
that could have happened to you, my lad."
Bob and Nellie meanwhile had been whispering together and
comparing notes apparently as to the state of their respective funds; for,
Nellie had extracted a little leather purse from some hidden receptacle
in her dress, while Bob was feeling in his pockets. Before either could
speak, however, Captain Dresser anticipated their evident intention.
"Suppose now I paid your fare for you?" he went on, addressing Dick.
"What would you say to that, eh?"
"Lor', sir, I'd be orful grateful, that I'd be, sir--I would indeed, sir,"
eagerly replied the lad in an outburst of thankfulness; "and if, sir, I
could work it out in any way so as to repay the money, I'd be that glad
yer wouldn't know me."
"Humph!" grunted the Captain again. "We'll see about that."
Bob and Nellie, both of whom had been listening with intense interest
to Dick's cross-examination, were quite carried away with enthusiasm
at this happy termination of the animated discussion that had gone on.
"Oh, you dear Captain," cried Nellie, hugging the old sailor rapturously.
"You've just done what Bob and I wished."
"Have I?" said he smiling. "I don't see it, I'm sure."
"Yes, you have, you have," she replied impulsively. "Bob and I were

just going to offer the same thing when you took the words out of our
mouth."
"And the money out of my pocket, eh?" slyly added the Captain with a
chuckle--"eh, missy?"
"But we'd like to pay too," said Bob. "Let us go shares, sir."
"Not a bit of it," retorted the other, blinking away as he always
appeared to do when excited. "That was only my joke. I will pay his
fare for him when we get to Portsmouth; for, I like the pluck of the lad
in climbing on to the train like that, and not being daunted by obstacles
in carrying out a planned purpose. Can't say much for his looks though.
He seems to me half-starved."
The latter observation was uttered in an undertone, the Captain having
too much delicacy to comment on Dick's appearance in his hearing.
Miss Nellie, however, acted instantly on the suggestion, which gave it a
practical turn.
"Are you hungry, poor boy," she asked Dick--"very hungry?"
"No, miss," he answered humbly; "not pertick'ler, I be."
"But you could eat a sandwich, perhaps?" said she, opening a parcel
which their mother had put up for the refreshment of Bob and herself
during their journey. "Don't you think you could?"
Dick's eyes glistened.
"I'll try, miss," said he, trying to speak calmly; although they could see
that he was really almost ravenous at the sight of the food. "I thinks as
how I could eat a mou'ful."
"Give him the lot, poor chap," cried the old Captain; but Nellie did not
need this admonition, being in the very act of handing over the parcel
of sandwiches to Dick even while the old sailor spoke. "There's no
good in his making two bites of a cherry, as the saying goes."

"Eat these, my poor boy," cried Nellie. "Bob and I had buns at
Waterloo before the train started, and we shan't want anything till we
get to auntie's house."
"Fire away, old chap!" chimed in Bob, noticing that the lad hesitated a
moment in accepting the proffered gift. "You needn't be afraid. Nellie
and I are not hungry like you."
Bob's friendly tone, coupled with the sight of the tempting viands, at
once removed any of Dick's lingering scruples; and, in another minute,
he was gobbling up the sandwiches like a famished wolf--his fellow-
travellers looking on with the utmost complacency and satisfaction at
the rapidity with which he got rid of them, bolting the little squares of
bread and meat one by one.
All this time, the engine was puffing and snorting away as if