MR. SHALLEY MAKES AN OFFER
The two men conversed together for fully half an hour, and during that
time Andrew Shalley learned much concerning the Thompson family and
their struggle to make both ends meet.
"I live at Nyack," said Andrew Shalley. "And my headquarters for boats
is there also. But the passenger steamer runs from New York City to
Albany. The tugs run anywhere on the river, and on New York Bay."
"It must be a nice business," said Randy. "I like boats of any kind."
"If I had a boat on the river here I might give you a job," went on the
gentleman. "But all of my craft are on the Hudson."
"They tell me that the Hudson is a grand stream."
"Nothing finer in this country, my boy, nothing finer. I have traveled
all over the United States and I know. I think it is fully equal to the
German Rhine and the St. Lawrence."
"Maybe you could give me a situation on one of your Hudson River
boats," went on Randy, struck by a sudden idea.
"Would you care to leave home?"
"Oh, Randy, you wouldn't want to go away!" cried Mrs. Thompson.
"I would if it paid to do so," answered Randy, quickly. "There isn't
much chance for work in Riverport."
"And I can keep an eye on the garden," said Mr. Thompson. "I know I am
going to feel some better now this spell is passing."
"If you cared to leave home I might give you some sort of a job on one
of my boats," went on Andrew Shalley, thoughtfully.
"What kind of a job?"
"I'd have to see about it first. I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll send
you a letter next week."
"Thank you."
"That will be best. But now I am going to do something else." The
steamboat man drew out his wallet. "I want you to accept this." And he
held out five crisp ten-dollar bills.
Randy did not wish to take the money, but the steamboat man urged it
and finally laid the bills on the table.
"I am sure you are more than kind, Mr. Shalley," said Mrs. Thompson. "I
shall remember you."
"Let us call it a loan," said Mr. Thompson, "to be paid back when I am
at work once more."
"Yes, call it a loan," said Randy, "otherwise I, for one, don't want
it."
"Have your way," laughed Mr. Shalley. "But don't worry about the
payment."
Before he left he walked around the little farm and praised what Randy
had done.
"Evidently not a lazy boy," he told himself, "and one who is willing to
aid his parents. That is the sort I like."
"He is a very nice man," said Mrs. Thompson, when the visitor had
departed. "Randy, you were fortunate to make such a friend."
"Yes. But, mother, I think we ought to pay back that money some day."
"I can do that--when I am able to go at carpentering again," put in Mr.
Thompson.
After that a week passed quietly enough. Randy worked early and late
and got the little farm in good shape and also visited Jack and bade
his friend good-by.
"Maybe I'll get a position on one of the Hudson River boats," said our
hero.
"If you do, and you stop at Albany, you must come and see me," answered
Jack, and gave his new address.
On the following Monday came a letter from Andrew Shalley. It was short
and to the point and read in part as follows:
"All I can offer you at present is the position of a deckhand on my
steamboat, the _Helen Shalley_. If you wish to accept that I will
pay you twenty dollars per month and your board at the start, and
more when you are experienced. If you wish to accept, write to me
and come on to Nyack, to my office."
"Here's an offer at last!" cried Randy, as he read the communication.
He had been fearful that Andrew Shalley might forget him.
"Twenty dollars per month is not so very much," said his mother.
"Yes, but I am to get my board, so the money will all be clear profit,
outside of the cost of my clothing."
"I suppose you will live on the boat," put in Mr. Thompson. "Most of
the crew do."
"I can send the most of the money home each month," continued Randy.
"The boat won't run during the winter," said his mother, who did not
much relish having her son leave home.
"Well, it will run until cold weather, anyway, and perhaps after that
Mr. Shalley will give me something else to do."
The matter was discussed that evening, and before he retired, Randy
penned a letter to the steamboat owner, stating he would come to Nyack
two days later.
The prospects ahead filled our hero with pleasure. The new position
would enable him to see a little of the world and meet other people,
and he was sure steamboat life would suit him thoroughly. He knew there
would be plenty of hard work, handling freight and baggage, but this
did not daunt him.
"I'll try to do my best," he reasoned. "Then maybe Mr. Shalley will
give me something better later on."
Randy did not have many clothes, so there was not a great deal to pack.
What he possessed was gone over by his mother, and then packed in a
valise. Out of the money on hand he was given the price of his stage
and railroad ticket and five dollars for other expenses.
"I shan't spend only what is necessary," said he to his parents.
Randy was glad to see that his father was improving. A good deal of the
rheumatic pains had left Mr. Thompson and he could get around the house
and the garden. It would be some time before he could go at
carpentering again, but he could aid a good deal on the farm, which was
something.
All too soon for his mother came the time for Randy to depart. Mrs.
Thompson kissed him affectionately and his father shook him by the
hand.
"Come back home if it doesn't suit you, Randy," said the mother.
"Yes, come back, and we'll get along somehow," added his father.
"I am sure it will suit me," said the boy. "I know the kind of a man
Mr. Shalley is. We'll be sure to get along."
Randy left home early in the morning and half an hour later was on the
stage, bound for Leeville, where he was to take the train for
Tarrytown, which is directly across the Hudson River from Nyack. His
going away was done so quietly that not a dozen persons knew of his
departure. The stage was but half filled, so he had plenty of room both
for himself and his valise.
Arriving at Leeville he had an hour to wait for the train and spent the
time in walking around the little town.
He had just passed one of the largest stores when he felt a hand on his
shoulder and turned, to find himself confronted by Bob Bangs.
"What are you doing here?" demanded the big boy, rather impudently.
"What business is that of yours?" retorted Randy, not liking the manner
in which he had been addressed.
"Oh, you needn't answer if you don't want to," sniffed Bob Bangs.
"I am going to Nyack."
"To Nyack? What for?"
"I am going to work for a steamboat owner."
"Humph! Going to work on the river?"
"Yes."
"Cabin boy, I suppose," sneered the rich boy.
"No, as a deckhand."
"I thought so. It's a dirty enough job, and you are welcome to it."
"It's honest work, and the money is clean," answered Randy, warmly.
"Ha! What do you mean by clean money," demanded the big boy,
suspiciously.
"Just what I said."
"Maybe you are trying to help spread that report that the Bartletts
started about us," said the rich youth.
"What report do you mean, Bob?"
"You know well enough--the one about my father."
"I don't know."
"Ain't the Bartletts telling everybody that my father shoved 'em out of
the iron works and that our money wasn't clean?"
"I haven't heard it."
"Bah! You needn't play the innocent. I know you, and I know Jack
Bartlett, too."
"I don't think your folks treated the Bartletts just right," went on
our hero, resolved to stand up for his friends.
"We treated 'em better than they deserved. If I had been my father I
should have kicked old man Bartlett out."
"Your father wouldn't have dared, Bob Bangs. But I am not going to
quarrel with you. What brings you to this place?"
"That's my business."
"You needn't tell me if you don't wish to."
"I am here to get a new horse. I am going to ride horseback after
this," went on the rich boy, boastfully. "It's a horse that costs four
hundred dollars, too."
"Then you are in luck," was all Randy answered, and walked away,
leaving the rich youth gazing after him doubtfully.