“Don’t disturb yourself in the least degree, Louis,” replied Captain Ringgold. “Let this cruise continue for a week or a month. I have nothing in the world to do at the Park, and I was thinking of taking a trip to the South, for the sake of something to occupy my mind; but this excursion will answer my purpose just as well.” “Me, too!” exclaimed Felix. “The only thing that’s bodthering me is whether or not we’ll get ony dinner.” “I was thinking of that myself,” added the captain. “An excursion without anything to eat is not wholly to my mind.” “I think I can settle that question very soon,” replied Louis, as he returned to the pantry, where he had seen a whole boiled ham and other eatables on the shelf. He placed the ham on a tray, with bread, butter, pickles, and an apple pie, and carried it to the second cabin. He put the eatables on the table, and then arranged them in proper order, bringing knives and forks from the pantry. Though he had not thought of dinner before, the sight of the food stimulated his appetite, and he ate a hearty meal with his companions. With the help of Felix, everything not consumed was restored to the pantry. Louis returned to the first cabin, and listened at the door of his mother’s room. He could hear nothing, and he did not disturb her. He seated himself and began to consider a plan he had thought of to redeem his party from their imprisonment. While he was thinking of this subject, a man came down from the deck and began to set the table for dinner. He put on the cloth, arranged the dishes, and then brought out the remains of the ham. “I wonder who has been cutting into this ’am,” said the man, who was the cook. “I boiled it this morning, and took it out of the pot since breakfast, which it was only three hours ago, and no one hadn’t any occasion to touch it. These dishes are all dirty, which it was me that washed them all this morning. I don’t understand it at all.” Louis understood it all, but he said nothing. “All the pickles is gone that I took out, and more than half the butter has been gobbled up, as the Yankees say. Have you taken a lunch, sir?” asked the cook, turning to the involuntary passenger, “or was it the sick lady that ate up ’alf this ’am?” “It was not the sick lady,” replied Louis. “Then maybe it was yourself, sir?” interrogated the puzzled cook, who appeared to be also the steward. “I did not eat half the ham; but with my two friends, we helped ourselves to what we wanted of it,” answered Louis, as coolly as though he had owned and commanded the vessel. “I am very much obliged to you for putting it where you did, and here is a five-dollar gold piece to help you out in white silk handkerchiefs, or any such things as you may need.” “Thank you, sir, which it is very ’andsome of you; and if you and your friends want anything more in my line, which it is cook and steward, I shall be very pleased to serve you.”