CHAPTER XVII THE PURSER HAS HIS SAY

 One night, when the steamboat was tied up at Albany, Randy donned his street clothes and hunted up the place where Jack¹ Bartlett lived. He found his former friend at home and glad to see him.

 

"Come in," said Jack, shaking hands. "How have you been since we met last?"

 

"Pretty fair, Jack. And how have you been?"

 

"I'm all right. I've got a job. That is why I haven't used my boat pass."

 

"A job?"

 

"Yes, I am working in the same place where father has a position."

 

"Then you are not going to school again?"

 

"Not for the present." Jack lowered his voice. "You see, father isn't earning any too much, so I—well, I thought I'd help the family along."

 

The two friends sat down in the parlor² and our hero told his tale, and then Jack related some of his own experiences.

 

"My father is in hopes that he can get at Mr. Bangs before long," said Jack. "The trouble is, some papers are missing. He had them in a desk at the works, but when he came away he couldn't find them."

 

"Perhaps Mr. Bangs got them."

 

"It is possible, but father can't prove it."

 

"Have you seen or heard anything of Bob Bangs lately?"

 

"He is along the Hudson somewhere—on a vacation with his mother."

 

"I met him when he was getting a horse," answered our hero and told of what had happened.

 

"I wish I had been there!" cried Jack, laughing heartily³. "I'll wager⁴ Bob was as mad as seventeen hornets."

 

"Yes, indeed. He must have had a good bill to pay for damages."

 

Randy spent a pleasant two hours with Jack and then went back to the boat, Jack promising⁵ to visit the craft some night when the Helen Shalley should tie up at Albany again.

 

So far matters had gone well on board. Randy was much amused by the passengers, especially those who were peculiar⁶ in their manners. There was one fussy⁷ old gentleman who went up and down the river twice a week. He always wanted to sit in a corner in the shade and asked a dozen times a day if they weren't behindhand.

 

"We are exactly on time," said Randy, to him, one day.

 

"Hum!" cried the old gentleman, consulting a watch he carried. "I think we are twenty minutes behindhand."

 

"We haven't been twenty minutes behindhand since I've been on the boat," said Randy, as he moved off.

 

The old gentleman grumbled⁸ to himself and restored his timepiece to his pocket.

 

A minute later Randy saw an Englishman saunter along the deck and stop close to the old gentleman. Randy had noticed the Englishman before, because he spoke⁹ with a strong Cockney accent—that is, he dropped h's where they were wanted and put them in when not needed. At this time the steamboat was just approaching the Highlands.

 

The Englishman pointed¹⁰ to the Highlands with his cane¹¹ and addressed the old gentleman.

 

"Hexcuse me," he said, "but are those the 'Ighlands you brag¹² about in this country?"

 

"The islands?" was the astonished reply.

 

"Why, no, sir, those are not islands at all. Have you never studied geography? An island is entirely¹³ surrounded by water," continued the fussy old gentleman.

 

"Oh, you mean hilands. I don't mean them at all, don't you know. I repeat, are those the 'Ighlands you talk about so much?" went on the Cockney, blandly¹⁴.

 

"They are not islands, sir—they are the Highlands," shouted the old gentleman.

 

"Just exactly what I said, sir—the 'Ighlands."

 

"No, not islands—Highlands."

 

"Hexactly."

 

"But you said islands."

 

"No, I did not say hilands, I said the 'Ighlands," went on the Cockney. "Hevidently you don't understand good, plain Henglish," and he walked off in disgust.

 

"The imp¹⁵, the blithering imp," growled¹⁶ the old gentleman. "May he never come near me again!"

 

At one of the landings a barrel for use on the boat broke, spilling some fancy flour on the deck. Randy was clearing up the muss when the purser, Peter Polk, came along. Our hero did not witness his approach, and consequently the purser received some dust on his shoes, which had just been polished.

 

"Hi! hi! Have a care there!" he cried. "What do you mean by covering me with dust?"

 

"Excuse me, sir," said Randy, hastily. "I didn't see you coming."

 

"I just had those shoes shined!"

 

"I am sorry, sir."

 

"You're the new man, eh?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"You're a blockhead, it seems to me," went on the purser, who was in particularly bad humor that day.

 

An angry remark rose to Randy's lips, but he repressed it.

 

"You be more careful in the future, or you'll get into trouble," grumbled the purser, and walked away.

 

The moment the purser was gone Jones came up to our hero.

 

"Brute¹⁷, ain't he?" he said, in a low voice.

 

"He called me a blockhead." Randy's eyes were flashing.

 

"Don't you mind him, lad. He is sour all the way through—he don't seem to be able to help it."

 

"I didn't see him coming."

 

"He should have looked where he was walking."

 

"I don't wonder the hands don't like him," went on Randy. "I don't think Captain Hadley would have spoken so."

 

"Not a bit of it—the captain's a gentleman, every inch of him."

 

"How do he and the purser get along together?"

 

"None too good, so I've been told. I wish we had a man in place of Polk."

 

"So do I."

 

"More than likely, when he comes to pay you your wages, he'll take out the price of a shoe shine."

 

"Would he really be mean enough to do that?"

 

"Polk is about mean enough to do anything."

 

There the talk ended and Randy finished up his work. The day passed, and when the steamboat tied up that night Randy was more than usually sleepy. It was very warm, and he went on the upper deck to get a breath of fresh air.

 

"See here," said the purser, coming up to him rather suddenly. "Are you talking about me?"

 

"Talking about you?" repeated our hero, somewhat puzzled.

 

"That is what I said."

 

"Not particularly, Mr. Polk."

 

"Somebody on this boat is telling tales about me, and I don't like it."

 

To this Randy made no answer.

 

"Have you heard any stories?" went on Peter Polk.

 

"What kind of stories?"

 

"That I was going to leave the steamboat?"

 

"No, sir."

 

"No stories at all?"

 

"No, sir."

 

"Humph!" And with this the purser walked away.

 

"What did he want now?" asked Jones, coming up a little later.

 

"Wanted to know if I had been circulating stories about him."

 

"Did you tell him no?"

 

"I did."

 

"I've heard a story—in a roundabout way—that Mr. Shalley is getting tired of the way Polk runs the money matters on this boat."

 

"Does he run all the money matters?"

 

"Sure—that is a purser's business. He does the buying—or most of it—too."

 

"I see."

 

"I don't believe he buys to advantage," went on Jones, closing one eye suggestively.

 

"I don't understand."

 

"Maybe he buys at two prices—some of 'em do, you know."

 

Randy did not know, but he did not say so.

 

"I knew a purser once—on the Sea Shell—who used to pay one price for a thing and then charge the owners of the vessel¹⁸ another price. At last they caught him at it and sent him to prison."

 

This opened Randy's eyes to what his fellow-deckhand was driving at.

 

"Do you imagine Polk is that sort?"

 

"He is certainly close."

 

"So you said before. Well, he ought to be watched."

 

"Oh, it's not my affair," said Jones. "Say, I am going to bed," he added.

 

"So am I," said Randy, and retired¹⁹, thinking of what Jones had said and also of what the Clares had told him regarding Peter Polk.

 

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

3 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

4 wager   

n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌

参考例句：

• They laid a wager on the result of the race.他们以竞赛的结果打赌。
• I made a wager that our team would win.我打赌我们的队会赢。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

7 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

8 grumbled   

抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbled at the low pay offered to him. 他抱怨给他的工资低。
• The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. 天热得让人发昏，水手们边干活边发着牢骚。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

12 brag   

v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的

参考例句：

• He made brag of his skill.他夸耀自己技术高明。
• His wealth is his brag.他夸张他的财富。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 blandly   

adv.温和地，殷勤地

参考例句：

• There is a class of men in Bristol monstrously prejudiced against Blandly. 布里斯托尔有那么一帮人为此恨透了布兰德利。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• \"Maybe you could get something in the stage line?\" he blandly suggested. “也许你能在戏剧这一行里找些事做，\"他和蔼地提议道。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

15 imp   

n.顽童

参考例句：

• What a little imp you are!你这个淘气包！
• There's a little imp always running with him.他总有一个小鬼跟着。

16 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

18 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

19 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。