their little stateroom; for they found that
their passage included quarters really more luxurious than they had
been accustomed to in their Kansas log-cabin.

"Not much army blanket and buffalo-robe about this," whispered Oscar,
pressing his toil-stained hand on the nice white spread of his berth.
"Say, wouldn't Younkins allow that this was rather comfortable-like,
if he was to see it and compare it with his deerskin coverlet that he
is so proud of?"

"Well, Younkins's deerskin coverlet is paid for, and this isn't," said
Charlie, grimly.

But the light-hearted younger boys borrowed no trouble on that score.
As Sandy said, laughingly, they were all fixed for the trip to St.
Louis, and what was the use of fretting about the passage money until
the time came to pay it?

When the lads, having exchanged their flannel shirts for white cotton
ones, saved up for this occasion, came out from their room, they saw
two long tables covered with snowy cloths set for the whole length of
the big saloon. They had scanned the list of meal hours hanging in
their stateroom, and were very well satisfied to find that there were
three meals served each day. It was nearly time for the two o'clock
dinner, and the colored servants were making ready the tables. The
boat was crowded with passengers, and it looked as if some of them
would be obliged to wait for the "second table." On board of a
steamboat, especially in those days of long voyages, the matter of
getting early to the table and having a good seat was of great concern
to the passengers. Men stood around, lining the walls of the saloon
and regarding with hungry expectation the movements of the waiters who
were making ready the tables. When the chairs were placed, every man
laid his hand on the top of the seat nearest him, prepared, as one of
the boys privately expressed it, to "make a grab."

"Well, if we don't make a grab, too, we shall get left," whispered
Sandy, and the boys bashfully filed down the saloon and stood ready
to take their seats when the gong should sound.

To eyes unused to the profuseness of living that then prevailed on the
best class of Western steamboats, the display on the dining-tables of
the "New Lucy" was very grand indeed. The waiters, all their movements
regulated by something like military discipline, filed in and out
bearing handsome dishes for the decoration of the board.

"Just look at those gorgeous flowers! Red, white, blue, purple,
yellow! My!