“Find him; present my compliments to him, and say that I desire the pleasure of his company at dinner,” added Louis; and Sparks hastened to obey the order. He returned with the message that the commander would join him in a few minutes. He then directed the steward to deliver the same invitation to Mrs. Blossom. She appeared at once, and thanked the owner for his consideration. “I do not expect to take my meals at the cabin table with the owner, for, as you know, I am only the stewardess,” said the lady very pleasantly, as the captain came below. “I wish to give my first order, Captain Ringgold,” Louis proceeded, as the trio stood near the table. “From this moment Mrs. Blossom ceases to be stewardess, and is to be regarded as the companion, not the servant, of my mother. I expect and desire that you and she will take your meals at my table.” “I had no authority to engage a companion for your mother; and I heartily approve your order, Mr. Belgrave,” replied the captain. “Now, Captain Ringgold, you will oblige me by taking the head of the table,” continued Louis. “I will sit at your right, and Mrs. Blossom at your left.” The commander objected; the owner insisted, and the latter had his own way after many pleasantries. The dinner was equal to a Delmonico affair, and Monsieur Odervie was generously praised. A full hour was passed at the table, but most of the time was consumed in conversation. Louis spent his evening in the _boudoir_, brilliantly illuminated by electric lights, with Mrs. Blossom. He was tired enough to retire early. The dinner had banished the last remnants of his malady, caused by what he called starvation, though this was an exaggeration. He related to his pleasant companion the history of the cruise he had made in the Maud, and the chase after the schooner in the Phantom. The next two days passed as agreeably to the young millionaire as the absence of his mother would permit. The weather had changed, and the wind was blowing more than half a gale from the north-west. At daylight the next morning Captain Ringgold roused the owner, and informed him that the Maud was in sight. CHAPTER XXXIV A WRECK ON THE BERMUDA REEF Louis Belgrave had become sufficiently accustomed to the motion of the steamer, even in a rough sea, to feel quite at home on deck or in the cabin. The Guardian-Mother had crossed the Gulf Stream while a northerly wind was blowing, and even Captain Ringgold called it “decidedly lumpy.” The young millionaire’s experience in the Maud, and before that in the Blanche, had very nearly made a sailor of him, so far as his ability to handle himself on shipboard was concerned, and he had made some progress in the details of practical seamanship.