To me, completely inexperienced, working my passage as a steward, cutting up fruit was a more congenial task than scrubbing floors or polishing metal-work. It had advantages, too. A few oranges were a good exchange with a table-steward for a lobster Newburg or half a duck. All the meals were a la carte and, in a very short time, instead of the plain if wholesome fare for the crew, I chose my meals like the passengers, with the exception that I always got what I ordered.
To me the butler's position was much more interesting than that of an ordinary table-steward. He had to do with all of the passengers at some time, instead of just the same six or eight all the time.
In the smoke-room, where I had afternoon duties, a cherubic little man with strong-lensed glasses attracted me. He was so diffident. He always sat at the same table, always alone.
There was a-regular poker school at a table nearby, and I knew that four of the players were rich men—not dollar millionaires, but the real thing. The little man always seemed to be gazing longingly at the game. One day, as I took him his modest lemon-squash, I ventured to say: "Don't you play, sir?"
He- replied cryptically, "Teacher's having a vacation."
The Cigarette-end "I suppose they play a very big game, don't they, sir?"
"Pikers!" he said, beaming mildly at me. He saw my surprise, "Get me a new deck!" I did so from the bar. "Open \'em. Shuffle em and deal five poker hands!" I did so. Then he dealt. We played an imaginary five hands. "Now watch! He dealt me four aces, but went one better for himself—a straight flush. Watching keenly I could detect no sign of cheating.
"Tve run a roulette wheel and a faro table in Montana." A professional gambler, he had paid two thousand dollars for his cruise ticket. He won that, I heard, and a lot more in the first month. He had now set-tied down to enjoy a holiday. parts of the road. We went over during the fine season and had beautiful clear weather right through, warm by day and cold by night. But the rains come in April and May, and the earth in many places is so soft and loose that it seems as though there are many sections of the roa that would be easily washed away. Also the twists and turns which are perfectly possible on a dry surface would become rather like a nightmare, I should. think, on a slippery, greasy surface.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.