ts and said, "All right, Tommy,"
which greatly increased Tom's veneration for the sagacity of Secret
Service men.

"He just meant he knew you wasn't German," said Archer.

He led the way along the deck, down a companionway and through a passage
where there were names on the doors, such as _Surgeon, Chief Steward,
Chief Engineer, First Mate_, etc. They entered the chief steward's
cabin, where a man in uniform sat at a desk with other men standing all
about, apparently awaiting orders. When his turn came, Archer said:

"Do you remember, Mr. Cressy, you said you wished you had more
youngsters like me in the steward's department? I got you one here. He's
a friend of mine. He's just like me--only different."

"Well, thank goodness for _that_," said the chief steward, sitting back
and contemplating Archibald with a rather rueful look. "_Did_ I say
that?"

"Yes, sir, you did. So I brought him; Tom Slade, his name is, and he
wants a job. He'd like to be chief engineer, but if he can't be
that----"

"Maybe he'd be willing to be butcher's assistant," concluded the
steward. "Archer," he added, as he reached for one of several speaking
tubes near his desk, "if I thought you'd sink, I'd have you thrown
overboard.--How'd you enjoy your visit home?"

A brief talk with some unseen person, to which Tom listened with chill
misgivings, and the steward directed his young subordinate to take Tom
to the purser's office and, if he got through all right there, to the
ship's butcher. He gave Tom a slip of paper to hand to the purser.

The purser's cabin was up on the main deck, and it was the scene of much
going and coming, and signing and handing back and forth of papers. A
young man sat on a stool before a high desk with a huge open book before
him.

"He's the third purser," whispered Archer; "don't you be afraid of
_him_."

It was to the third purser that Tom told the history of his life--so far
as he knew it; where he was born and when, who his parents were, where
they had been born, when and where they had died; whether Tom had ever
worked on a ship, whether he had any relatives born in or living in
Germany or Austria, whether he had ever been employed by a German, and
so on and so on.

All this went down in the big book, in which Tom had a page all to
himself, and the last question left a chill upon him as he followed his
young companion from the cabin--_Whom to notify in case of accident_.

"Accident," he thought. "That m