“What kind of a chance do you want him to have?”
“I--I don’t just know. Dan’s pretty independent. He wouldn’t take money from you unless he worked for it, and he has to work to help his folks. He wants to be a skipper some day.”
“Do you think he’d like a berth on one of our steamers?”
“Yes, I guess so--if he could go home sometimes to see his folks.”
And it was arranged. Dan was given a berth on a steamer plying between New York and South American ports, which he gratefully accepted.
Paul was graduated from Princeton six years later, and after a year’s apprenticeship in his father’s office was appointed General Superintendent of the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company.
It was arranged to celebrate the occasion with a dinner at Mr. Densmore’s club. Dan’s ship was in port, and he, too, was to share in the honors. Paul insisted that the dinner would be incomplete without Captain Bluntt, and after many persuasive letters and cablegrams the Captain was prevailed upon to journey again to New York, and to bring with him Skipper Rudd o’ the _Ready Hand_, Dan’s “Dad,” ostensibly to pay Dan a brief visit.
It was a jolly dinner, free from formality. Remington, Ainsworth and a half dozen of Paul’s college friends were there. Densmore at the head of the table acted as toastmaster, with Dan at his right and Paul at his left, which was in accordance with Paul’s wish.
When coffee was served, Densmore, after extending a welcome to the guests, announced that they had been asked to join not simply in the celebration of Paul’s advancement to the superintendency of the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company, but also in the celebration of his first official act as an officer of the company. Of this, he said, Paul would speak for himself.
Paul began with a humorous description of his introduction to Captain Bluntt and the _North Star_, which pleased the Captain wondrously, and created much merriment. Then he passed on to the days when he and Dan were cast away, of how Dan’s resourcefulness and optimism, leavened with the philosophy of Skipper Rudd, had kept up his spirits; of Dan’s courage and high ability; of the strong and enduring friendship between him and Dan, a friendship akin to brotherly affection.