Four Afloat Part 2

"About five minutes ago, I guess," said Dan. "It was when we were coming through that three-inch boulevard back there. Poor Tommy!" he said sorrowfully. "We'll never see him again."

"I guess we'd better go back and look for him," said Nelson.

"Have you any idea you know how we came?" asked Dan incredulously.

"If we don't find him, he'll make his way home, I guess," said Bob.

"I'll bet I can tell you what's happened to him," said Dan.

"What?"

"He's got stuck fast in one of these narrow streets, of course. I only hope they won't have to tear down a building or two to get him loose."

"Oh, they'll probably let him stay there until he is starved thin,"

laughed Nelson.

"That's so. And build a flight of steps over him. Bet you a dollar, though, that when they do pry him loose, they'll arrest him for stopping the traffic!"

"Well, come on," said Nelson. "We'll see if we can find him."

So they turned and retraced their steps, although Dan affirmed positively that they had never come that way.

"The sensible thing to have done," he grumbled, "was to have stayed just where we were and waited for the streets to come around to us. Then, when one went by with Tommy on the sidewalk, we could have just reached out and plucked him off."

But no one heard him save a newsboy, who thought he was asking for an afternoon paper.

After five minutes on the "back trail," they concluded to give it up, agreeing that Tom had probably wandered into one of the side streets, and that he would undoubtedly find some one to direct him to Nelson's house. So they started again for the yacht-supply store, Dan pretending to be terribly worried.

"Who's going to break the news to his parents?" he asked lugubriously.

But by the time they were in sight of their destination he had acquired a more cheerful frame of mind. "Of course," he confided to Nelson-the sidewalk here was wide enough to allow them to walk two abreast-"of course, I'm sorry to lose Tommy, but it's well to look on the bright side of things. You see, Bob will have to be cook now, and you know he's a heap better cook than Tommy ever was or ever would have been. Oh, yes, every cloud has a silver lining!" In the store he insisted on buying a dory compa.s.s for his own use. "You see, Bob, I might get lost myself on the way back," he explained. Bob, however, convinced him that what he wanted was a chart.

Their purchases here were not many but bulky, and so they decided to call a hack. When it came, they climbed into it and surrounded themselves with bundles of rope, fenders, lubricating oil in gallon cans, and a.s.sorted tools and hardware. It was getting toward five o'clock by this time, and they decided to go to the boat yard, put the things on board, and leave the arranging of them until the morning. They dismissed the carriage at the entrance to the wharf and took up their burdens again. Dan, hurried along by the impatient Barry, was the first to reach the edge of the wharf, and--

"Well, I'll be blowed!" he cried.

Bob and Nelson hurried to his side. There, lolling comfortably in the c.o.c.kpit seat of the _Vagabond_ and eating caramels, was Tom!

"You're a nice one!" said Nelson indignantly. "We thought you were lost!"

"So I was," answered Tom calmly. "Quite lost. So I hired a hansom and came here."

"Well, you've got a great head, Tommy," said Dan admiringly. "Give you my word, I'd never have thought to do that! I'd have just roamed about and roamed about until overcome by weariness and hunger. What you eating, you pig?"

"Caramels. I stopped to buy them at a store, and when I came out, you fellows were gone and some one had turned the streets around."

"And there we were searching for you for hours, worried half crazy,"

said Dan. "Stand up there and catch these bundles, you loafer!"

They went home in the elevated and finished Tom's caramels on the way.

After dinner they got their baggage ready to send to the launch in the morning, studied the charts for the twentieth time, and listened to final directions and cautions from Mr. Tilford.

Nelson's father was a tall and rather severe-looking man of about fifty, and at first the three visitors had been very much in awe of him. But they had speedily discovered that his severity was, to use Dan's expression, "only s.h.i.+n deep," and that in reality he was a very jolly sort in a quiet way. And as they entertained an immense respect for him, they listened very attentively to what he had to say that evening in the library.

"Now there's just one way in which you boys are going to be able to keep out of trouble," said Mr. Tilford, "and that's by using sound common sense. The _Vagabond_ isn't an ocean liner, and you mustn't think you can take deep-sea voyages in her. I want you to be in port every evening before dark. I don't care how early you set out in the morning, but I want you to find your mooring or your anchorage by supper-time. If you take my advice, you'll have at least one square meal every day on sh.o.r.e.

You can't do much cooking on the launch, even if you know how, and to keep well and happy you've got to be well fed on good food.

"I naturally feel a bit anxious about this trip, boys. You've all received permission from your parents to take it, but it's my boat and I don't want anything to happen to you while you're on it. You're all of you getting old enough to look after yourselves pretty well, but I don't know whether you can all do it. My first idea," he went on, turning to Bob, "was to send a man along with you. But Nelson didn't like that, and I realized that it would just about cut your fun in half. So I let him back me down on that proposition. Now it's up to you to prove that I haven't made a mistake. Nelson knows that engine about as well as I do, and I don't think there'll be any trouble to speak of there. Don't be sparing of oil, Nelson; half the gas-engine troubles originate with the lubrication. Oil's cheap and repairs are dear; remember that. And don't be afraid to throw your anchor out. It's better to ride out a blow in a stanch boat like the _Vagabond_ than to try to make some port that you don't know anything about.

"I want to get word from you at least every other day, too; oftener, if you can make it. Just a line will do, so that your mother and I won't worry. Watch your barometer and the weather flags, and when in doubt hug the harbor. Now, how are you off for money?"

Whereupon the session resolved into a meeting of the Committee on Ways and Means.

The next morning the luggage was dispatched to the wharf, and, after a hurried breakfast had been eaten and they had bade good-by to Nelson's mother, the four followed. The provisions were there before them, and for an hour they were busy stowing things away. It was wonderful what a lot of supplies and clothing and personal belongings it was possible to pile away in that little cabin. The cus.h.i.+ons, mattresses, and awning were brought aboard, and the c.o.c.kpit was supplied with two of the wicker chairs belonging there. The side lights and riding light were filled, trimmed, and put in place, the searchlight tank recharged, and the ice box filled. Everybody was intensely busy and excited, and Barry was all over the boat and under everyone's feet. Mr. Tilford hurried over from his office at ten o'clock, looked things over anxiously and hurried off again to attend a meeting at eleven, shaking hands all around and wis.h.i.+ng them good luck. Then the launch was hauled around to the head of the wharf to have her gasoline and water tanks filled.

By that time Nelson had invaded the flag locker, and the _Vagabond_ was in holiday trim fore and aft. From the bow fluttered the pennant of the Boston Yacht Club and, beneath it, the owner's burgee, an inverted anchor in white, forming the letter T, on a divided field of red and blue. Over the stern hung the yachting ensign. Their personal effects were disposed of in the stateroom; underclothing and such apparel in the chiffonier, toilet articles in the lavatory, sweaters and oilskins on the hooks, and shoes in the berth lockers. Tom, to whom had fallen the distribution of the provisions, had completed his task, and the ice box and shelves above were full. Doubtless they had taken aboard a great deal more than they would stand in need of, but that is an error that most inexperienced mariners commit. Save for such things as eggs and b.u.t.ter and bread, their provisions were mostly canned or preserved. At eleven Nelson busied himself with the engine, filling his oil cans and cups, cleaning and polis.h.i.+ng. The batteries were brand new and so was the wiring, and when he tried the spark he smiled his satisfaction.

"Fat and purple," he muttered.

"Who is?" asked Tom resentfully as he slammed down the lid of the ice box.

"The spark, Tommy, my boy," was the reply. "I was not referring to you; you're not purple, are you?"

"No, nor fat, either. Say, what's this? I thought it was something to eat at first."

"That," answered Nelson, "is something you'll become better acquainted with to-morrow, Tommy. That is a nice quart can of metal polish."

"Huh! I'd like to know what I've got to do with it!"

"Oh, the cook always s.h.i.+nes the bright-work."

"Now, look here--"

"Careful," warned Nelson, "or we'll put you in irons for mutiny."

"Guess the iron wouldn't be any worse than the bra.s.s," said Tom with a grin.

At half-past eleven all was in readiness. One of the yard hands threw off the mooring rope and Bob took the wheel. Dan and Tom stood at the engine-room door and watched Nelson as he turned on the gasoline, looked to his vaporizer valve, and closed his battery switch.

"All clear?" he shouted.

"All clear!" answered Bob.

Nelson opened the valve at the vaporizer and turned over the fly wheel.

The engine hummed, and from without came the steady _chug-chug, chug-chug_ of the exhaust. Then, with Nelson at the lever and moving at half speed, the launch pointed her nose toward the outer harbor. The cruise of the _Vagabond_ had begun.

CHAPTER III-WHEREIN DAN PRACTICES STEERING