Desk and Debit Part 22

"You always said the Michigan--"

"No, the Marian," interposed the skipper. "Please to call the boat by her right name."

"Well, the Marian; you always said she was the fastest boat on the lake."

"I think so, though she has never had a fair trial with the Florina."

"I wish you would hurry her up, for I really wish to see Julia Lord, and have her in the boat with me. I suppose that neither Mr. Whippleton nor Florina will object to the transfer."

"Perhaps not. If any one has the right to object, I am the person,"

replied the skipper, in a low tone, though I heard what he said.

"You promised to provide me with company, or I should not have come,"

pouted Miss Collingsby, blus.h.i.+ng.

"I hoped you would deem me sufficient company."

"Why, what impudence! I want the company of young ladies."

"But you don't object to my company--do you?"

"Certainly not, in your proper place, at the helm of the yacht."

Though I was not skilled at all in woman's ways, I thought the fair girl was struggling between two fires. She rather liked Mr. Waterford, on the one hand, and was very unwilling to commit herself by accepting any of his delicate attentions, or by appearing to be pleased by his compliments. In a word, I thought she liked him, but was afraid of him.

He was, as I have before intimated, a very good-looking fellow, elegant and agreeable in his manners and speech. If he had been half as good as he looked, he would have been worthy the beautiful girl at his side. It was not very difficult for me to believe, after what I had heard her father say, that she had been warned against him, and that duty and inclination were struggling against each other in her mind.

"It is half past eleven, Phil," said Mr. Waterford, consulting his watch. "Shall we have any dinner to-day?"

"Certainly, if you desire it," I replied, presenting myself before the skipper in the standing-room.

"Whippleton says you are a cook, Phil. Is that so?"

"I can cook," I replied, modestly.

"Can you get up a dinner fit for a lady?" laughed Mr. Waterford.

"I can roast, bake, boil, broil, and fry. If the lady will be suited with any of these, I will do the best I can to please her."

"I thought you were my father's clerk," added Miss Collingsby.

"I am."

"How do you happen to know how to cook, then?"

"I was brought up on the upper Missouri, where we had to do our own cooking."

"Yes, Phil is a regular Indian fighter," laughed the skipper.

"What, this young man?"

"Yes, he has shot a thousand Indians in his day, and scalped them?"

"Phil?"

"Call it two or three," I added. "And we never were in the habit of scalping them."

"Don't spoil a good story, Phil."

"We used to speak the truth in the woods, even when we were joking."

"Well, don't be too severe on us. We only speak the truth here when we are addressing ladies."

"Just reverse the proposition, and it would be more correct," said Marian.

"What shall we have for dinner?" I asked.

"Miss Collingsby must settle that point," answered the skipper.

"Give us a _fricandeau de veau_, and _beignets de pomme_."

"_Nous n'avons pas des pommes_," I replied.

"Is it possible! Do you speak French?" exclaimed Miss Collingsby.

"_Un peu_."

"Of course I did not mean what I said," laughed the gay young lady. "I will have just what you happen to have. I did not think any one would understand what I said."

"I certainly did not," added Mr. Waterford. "I know no language but English, and only a little of that."

"I think I can make a _fricandeau_," I continued, "if I have the material."

"We have beef, ham, mutton, pork, potatoes, bread, cake, and crackers on board."

"Let us have a plain beefsteak, then," said the lady.

"_Avec pommes de terre, frits?_" I asked.

"_Oui, Monsieur Cuisinier_. What a prodigy you must be, Mr. Phil! You can keep books, cook, and talk French."

"And sail a boat as well as the best of them," added Mr. Waterford. "By the way, Phil, have you any of those things on board that you mentioned?"

"What things?"

"I don't know."

"_Pommes de terre_," suggested Miss Collingsby.

"You said we had. I haven't looked over the stores."