him. He went to the carving-table, delivered the message of Major
Billcord to the steward, and called for the orders he had received.
Before he had his tray ready, the steward brought him the onions; and he
carried them with the other articles to the table.

"Your onions, sir," said he, as he placed the little dish where the
irate gentleman could not help seeing them.

While Dory was serving the other passengers, whose orders he had taken,
and while half a dozen others were clamorous for every item on the bill
of fare, Major Billcord thrust his fork into one of the odoriferous
vegetables brought to him.

"These are not a whit better done than the others were!" exclaimed Major
Billcord, dropping his knife and fork in disgust. "What do you mean,
boy, by bringing me such onions as these?"

"The steward gave me those onions for you, sir," pleaded Dory, who was
certainly doing his best to please all the passengers at the dinner
table; and the young waiter had already learned that this was not one of
the easiest tasks in the world.

"Don't tell me that, you young rascal! You haven't delivered my message
to the steward," growled the irate passenger.

"Yes, sir: I told him just what you wanted, and he sent the dish of
onions to you, sir," Dory explained.

"The steward would never have sent me such onions as these. You haven't
been to him as I told you. You are an impudent young cub, and you are no
more fit for a waiter than you are for a steamboat captain."

"I brought the onions the steward sent; and it isn't my fault that they
are not right," said Dory gently, though he did not always speak and act
in just that way.

"Is my dinner to be spoiled by the stupidity and carelessness of a boy?"
demanded Major Billcord. "If I have any influence on board of this boat,
such blockheads shall not be employed as waiters."

"I will get any thing you wish, sir," added Dory, appalled at the remark
of the important passenger.

"Don't come near me again! Go, and tell the steward to send another
waiter to me," was all the reply the major would give him.

Dory Dornwood intended to deliver even this message to the steward; but
he was kept very busy by the wants of the other passengers, so that he
could not go at just that minute. He had been instructed to serve all
persons at the tables alike; and he was not quite old enough and
experienced enough to comprehend that his instructions were to be obeyed
in a Pickwickian sense on cert