Adventures of a Boy Reporter

  CHAPTER XIII.

  SAN FRANCISCO--THE TRANSPORT GONE--WORKING HIS WAY TO HONOLULU BY PEELING VEGETABLES ON A PACIFIC LINER--THE CAPITAL OF HAWAII.

  ARCHIE found Chicago to be so widely different from New York thateverything he saw was new and interesting to him. In the afternoon hemanaged to see something of the congested business section of the city,the tall office buildings, the great stores, and the famous Board ofTrade. It was all very fine, he thought, but still it wasn't nearly sofascinating to him as New York had been on the first day he visited it."Chicago seems so very much like some great town," he explained to thehotel clerk in the evening. "I feel as if I were not in a great cityat all, because there are not the evidences of a large and wealthypopulation that we have everywhere in New York." Archie spoke of NewYork as if he had lived there always, and found much to criticise inChicago. But toward evening he went up to Lincoln Park and the beautifulNorth Shore, and he felt that there was nothing more beautiful in NewYork than this magnificent park, and this handsome Lake Shore Drive,with its great houses whose lawns reached down almost to the lakeitself. On the South Side of the city, too, he found some handsomestreets and residences, but there was always that feeling of being insome rapidly growing town. It wasn't hard for Archie to realise thatthere were older houses in his native town than could be found anywherein the great city of Chicago.

  The greatest difference between Chicago and New York was to be noticedin the evening. Instead of the brilliantly lighted thoroughfares ofupper Broadway and Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth Streets, he foundbut one street in Chicago which was at all illuminated, and theilluminations there were chiefly signs in front of dime museums. Thestreets, too, were not so crowded, and Archie almost longed that hecould be back on Broadway, if only for a little while.

  On Sunday he found Chicago to be a more noisy city than he had ever beenin before on that day, and he found that the people made good useof their one weekly holiday. All places of amusement were open, andeverything was running in "full blast."

  The parks seemed to be very popular, indeed, and there were numerouswater excursions upon Lake Michigan, to Milwaukee, St. Joe, and variousother neighbouring cities. The street-cars were crowded all day long,many of them taking people to a Sunday game of baseball at the AthleticPark. All of this was very interesting and very new to Archie, but itdidn't make him anxious to remain in Chicago any longer than Mondaymorning, so on that day he took the limited train for the Pacific Coast,for he had determined not to stop off again until he reached Denver.

  Days of weary travel over a level, uninteresting stretch of groundfollowed the departure of the train from Chicago, and had not Archiefound some interesting persons to talk with he would have been veryweary long before reaching Denver. As it was, he managed to pass thetime very pleasantly until the train entered Colorado, and after thathe found much that was new to look at until he reached Denver. Here heremained for half a day, just long enough to see something of the cityand a little of the neighbouring country. Then, taking a train for SanFrancisco, he reached that city on Thursday afternoon, and immediatelybegan to make arrangements for sailing. He found, to his greatdisappointment, that the army transport had sailed the previous day,contrary to the expectations of the editors, and of the War Departmentitself, until the arrival of important despatches from Manila, whichmade it necessary to start the transport at once with supplies ofammunition. Archie hardly knew what to do. He had not anticipatedanything like this, and could scarcely think of any plan for a time,but, finally, he proved himself equal to the emergency. He went to thenaval agent and asked him when the transport would be due at Honolulu,and then he ascertained that a passenger steamer sailing for that porton Saturday would reach the destination three days sooner than thetransport, so that by taking the liner he would have three extra days inHonolulu, and would be able to reach Manila on schedule time, after all.He at once decided that this was the thing for him to do, and as soonas he thought of taking the steamer it occurred to him that he mightpossibly be able to work his way to Honolulu, instead of paying theregular passenger fare, which he knew was high. So he went down to thegreat docks, and, after interviewing the second steward, he approachedthe chief steward himself, and asked if there wasn't something thathe could do aboard the ship to earn his passage. The chief steward wasthoughtful for a time, and finally said, "Well, yes, I believe there is.We haven't any one to peel vegetables yet, and if you think you care todo that work I guess we can fix you up all right." Archie didn't waitto consider whether peeling vegetables was hard work or not. He was tooglad to have a position of any kind aboard ship to be particular aboutwhat his work was like, so he told the steward that he was willing totake the place. "Well, be on hand at about eight in the morning, andwe'll see that you get to Honolulu."

  Archie was overjoyed at his good management. "I am going to save abouta hundred dollars," he said to himself, "and I will have this money tosend home to mother." The rest of the afternoon and the evening he spentin going about San Francisco, and he found it to be more like New Yorkthan any city he had yet seen. There was the same cosmopolitan crowd onthe main thoroughfares, and the same foreign districts here and therethroughout the city. He found a great deal to interest him, especiallyat the Presidio, where everything connected with the army monopolisedhis attention. He made friends with many of the soldiers who werewaiting to be sent to the Philippines, and hoped, on leaving, that hewould meet some of them there, but he hardly expected that he would meetsome of them in such a strange manner as it was his fate to do in Luzon.

  After a good night's rest he was on hand early at the great steamer,where there was such a scene of bustle and confusion as he had neverseen before, not even in New York. There was a throng of men with truckswho were loading the late freight, and there was a constant din of noisyvoices, which, combined with the shrieks of escaping steam, made itimpossible to carry on a conversation. Archie hurried aboard to find thesteward, who immediately took him into the galley and introduced him tothe cook, a large, fat Frenchman, with small, blue eyes set far backin his head. He seemed to be a pleasant man, and Archie thought that hewould like him very much.

  "Well, does ze youngster vant to vork, eh! Eef he do, I say you pare zispotate for dinee as quick you can." And the fellow pointed to a greatbag of potatoes and a paring-knife. "Now you sit zere in da corner,"continued the cook, "and keep out uf my vay." Archie found a stool andsat down, and, having brought an apron with him, he put it on and beganwork. The cook watched him closely, so that Archie soon learned to parethe potatoes very nicely, and of course he was able to get along fasterand faster as he became more and more experienced. He managed, throughgreat effort, to get the bag finished in time for dinner, or luncheon,as it was called on the bill of fare, and then he soon had to begin onother vegetables, which were to be served at the more complete eveningmeal. There were more potatoes, and some turnips and apples as well,to be prepared, and it kept the boy busy all the afternoon, cleaningas hard as he could, and never seeming to get done. The cook urged himalways to hurry, and seemed determined to have everything ready on time.And Archie began to realise that he was working under a rather severemaster.

  He was again successful in getting the vegetables finished in time forthe evening meal, and then he had an idea that he might be allowed torest for awhile, but he soon realised his mistake. He was advised tobegin work on the potatoes for breakfast if he didn't want to get up attwo o'clock in the morning and pare them, so once more he took up theknife and began to clean and scrape. It was ten o'clock before hehad finished, and he found himself too tired to spend any time on theafter-deck with the crew, but went at once down into the small, stuffyroom where he was to sleep with some of the stewards. His back achedfrom bending over, and his hands were all sore from being scraped.

  Things were not very pleasant in this bedroom, but poor Archie was gladenough to be able to lie down on the hard straw tick and go to sleep.He slept soundly until he was awakened at four o'clock in the morning bythe
second cook, who ordered him up-stairs to work. There was no time towash, and no place where he could wash, so the boy was obliged to go upjust as he was, much as he disliked doing so. And once up-stairs therewere various chores which were waiting for him in the galley, so thathe was kept running until breakfast was served. And then it was timeto begin paring vegetables again. This turned out to be the invariabledaily programme, and Archie became rather discouraged. Had it not beenfor the thought that by doing this he was saving money to send home, hewould have been miserable indeed, but this idea kept him hopeful. He wasseasick, too, for a time, and was obliged to keep cleaning vegetablesin the galley during the whole period of his suffering. The days when hewas ill in this way were the most disagreeable ones of the voyage, andArchie often described afterward his feelings as he sat peeling potatoeswith a bucket standing beside him. Each night he slept like a log, andeach morning he was obliged to get up at four o'clock and start workagain. It was the same thing day after day, tiresome and monotonous, sothat Archie wasn't sorry when the beautiful island hove in sight, andthey anchored in the picturesque bay of Honolulu.

  Once at Honolulu, Archie's term of service on board the liner wasover, and he was glad, indeed, to get ashore, where he learned that thetransport had not yet arrived, but was expected in two or three days'time. These two or three days Archie determined to spend in sightseeing,and he spent his time to excellent advantage in visiting every quarterof Honolulu and seeing every side of life in the Hawaiian capital. Hefound it a delightful place. There was much that was interesting to see,the people were pleasant to meet, and the climate was perfect. He wasalmost sorry when he learned that the transport had anchored in the bay!