ing vegetables was hard work or not. He was too
glad to have a position of any kind aboard ship to be particular about
what his work was like, so he told the steward that he was willing to
take the place. "Well, be on hand at about eight in the morning, and
we'll see that you get to Honolulu."

Archie was overjoyed at his good management. "I am going to save about
a hundred dollars," he said to himself, "and I will have this money to
send home to mother." The rest of the afternoon and the evening he spent
in going about San Francisco, and he found it to be more like New York
than any city he had yet seen. There was the same cosmopolitan crowd on
the main thoroughfares, and the same foreign districts here and there
throughout the city. He found a great deal to interest him, especially
at the Presidio, where everything connected with the army monopolised
his attention. He made friends with many of the soldiers who were
waiting to be sent to the Philippines, and hoped, on leaving, that he
would meet some of them there, but he hardly expected that he would meet
some of them in such a strange manner as it was his fate to do in Luzon.

After a good night's rest he was on hand early at the great steamer,
where there was such a scene of bustle and confusion as he had never
seen before, not even in New York. There was a throng of men with trucks
who were loading the late freight, and there was a constant din of noisy
voices, which, combined with the shrieks of escaping steam, made it
impossible to carry on a conversation. Archie hurried aboard to find the
steward, who immediately took him into the galley and introduced him to
the cook, a large, fat Frenchman, with small, blue eyes set far back
in his head. He seemed to be a pleasant man, and Archie thought that he
would like him very much.

"Well, does ze youngster vant to vork, eh! Eef he do, I say you pare zis
potate for dinee as quick you can." And the fellow pointed to a great
bag of potatoes and a paring-knife. "Now you sit zere in da corner,"
continued the cook, "and keep out uf my vay." Archie found a stool and
sat down, and, having brought an apron with him, he put it on and began
work. The cook watched him closely, so that Archie soon learned to pare
the potatoes very nicely, and of course he was able to get along faster
and faster as he became more and more experienced. He managed, through
great effort, to get the bag finished in time for dinner, or luncheon,
as it w