CHAPTER V

  SUNDAY ASHORE

  Before the sun had much more than climbed to a position where it couldpeer over the low yellow ridge of Fire Island and see what the AdventureClub was up to, the two cruisers were chug-chugging out of the harbourwith all flags flying. First went the _Adventurer_, as flag-ship of thefleet, to use Neil's metaphor, and, a little way behind came the _FollowMe_, her black hull and battleship-grey deck reminding the occupants ofthe other boat of one of the "puffing pigs" of yesterday. The bay wasalmost as smooth as the proverbial mill-pond this morning, and theslanting shafts of sunlight cast strange and beautiful shades of goldand copper on the tiny wavelets. It was still cool, and in the shadow ofthe bridge deck one felt a bit shivery. But the sun promised a warm day.The crew was polishing bright-work rather awkwardly but mostindustriously and with a fine willingness, explaining that if hepolished brass some other poor Indian would have to swab decks, a remarkwhich inspired Neil to state with much emphasis that cleaning decks wasnot, at all events, within the province of the ship's boy, and that,anyway, he had helped with the dishes and that right now he was going tolie in the sun on the galley roof and that if anyone disturbed himthere'd be trouble.

  Joe had been having a fine time with his engine. He was getting on termsof real familiarity with it now, having lost some of the awe with whichhe had regarded it yesterday. Today he called it "She" almostpatronisingly and even dared lay his hand on the cylinders with aknowing cock of his head. Perry, looking on, asked sarcastically if hewas feeling the engine's pulse, and Joe haughtily replied that he wantedto make sure the cylinders weren't overheating. Ossie, emerging from thecabin, wiping his hands on his khaki trousers after wringing out hisdish cloths, gave it as his opinion that if there was any overeatingdone it would not be done by the engine, accompanying the statement witha meaning glance at Perry.

  About this time the _Follow Me_ left her position astern and began tocreep alongside. Steve supposed she wanted to send a message across andtold the others on the deck to keep still a minute. But the _Follow Me_kept on her way, the fellows sprawling around her deck and cockpitlooking across the few fathoms of water in silence.

  "Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Neil. "She's trying to passus!"

  Steve grunted, smiled and advanced his throttle. The click-click fromunder the engine hatches became hurried and louder. Joe wrinkled hisforehead anxiously. The _Adventurer_ stopped going astern of the otherboat and for a little distance they hung bow to bow. They saw HarryCorwin, at the wheel of the _Follow Me_, lower his head to speak to hisbrother in the engine room. The _Follow Me_ began to forge ahead again,slowly but certainly.

  "Give her more gas, Steve," begged Perry. "We can't have a little old'puffing pig' of a boat like that walking away from us. Look at thoseidiots grin!"

  "And watch them change their faces," laughed Steve as he drew thethrottle forward another two or three notches. Under the hatches theengine uttered a new note and a quick jarring became felt. Joe's anxietyincreased to uneasiness.

  "Say, Steve, do you think--is it all right--I mean--"

  "She's only doing about seventeen," replied Steve calmly. "The throttleisn't nearly open yet. But I guess that's enough," he added as heglanced across the water. Perry, leaning across the gunwale, beckonedinsultingly.

  "Come on!" he called. "What are you stopping there for?"

  The _Follow Me_ replied to the taunt, but what the reply was they didn'tknow on the _Adventurer_, for the latter was ahead now by its fulllength and gaining perceptibly every moment. Tom Corwin's head appearedover the cabin roof, he took a look at the rival craft and popped fromsight again. The _Follow Me_ stopped going back and hung with her noseabreast the _Adventurer's_ stern. Phil, who had been writing a letter inthe cabin, emerged and joined the group outside.

  "How fast is she going, Steve?" he asked.

  "About seventeen, I think. Still, Harry said the _Follow Me's_ best waseighteen, and she isn't losing any, and so we may be doing eighteen,too. Guess we might as well settle the matter right now, though."

  With which he pulled the throttle to the limit, and the white cruiser,quivering from stem to stern, forged ahead. "We're doing a good twentymiles an hour now," shouted Steve above the hum of the motor, "and shewon't go any faster unless we get out and push!"

  But twenty miles was fast enough to distance the _Follow Me_, althoughthat boat held on gamely all the way across the bay and only slowed downwhen, a good quarter of a mile behind the _Adventurer_, she was abreastPelican Bar. The _Adventurer_ dropped her gait to twelve and presentlythe black cruiser, having negotiated the inlet in the wake of the othercraft, drew within hailing distance and Harry Corwin called acrossthrough the megaphone.

  "Some boat, Steve!" he shouted. "We're satisfied!"

  Steve waved back and the two cruisers settled down to their forty-milerun along the shore, the _Follow Me_ gliding smoothly along abaft the_Adventurer's_ starboard beam. They sighted few other craft thismorning, and, as there was a deal of sameness in the coast, the fellowssettled down to various occupations. Steve conducted a second class innavigation, with Perry and Han as pupils, and Perry was allowed to takethe wheel all the way from Smith's Point to a position off the MorichesLife-Saving Station. Phil went on with his letters, Ossie performedmysterious rites in the galley, with Han looking on interestedly fromatop the dish-board, and Neil, exhausted by his labours as crew,reclined on the seat in the cockpit and stared sleepily at a blue andunclouded sky. Joe hunched himself on a seat on the bridge deck andstudied his book on motor boating, becoming, if truth were told, moreand more mystified as to the working of that remarkable affair that wasclick-clicking away under his feet.

  The _Adventurer_ reached the inlet to Shinnecock Bay a few minutes pastten and, closely followed by her companion boat, put through and turnedher nose past Ponquogue Point. As Comorant Point drew near the shores ofthe bay closed in and the cruiser turned to port and, signalling her waypast various craft, finally came to a pause outside the canal entrance.When the _Follow Me_ floated alongside Wink Wheeler called across.

  "What do you say to going ashore, fellows?" he asked. "It looks like ajolly sort of place. We've got plenty of time, haven't we?"

  "All the time in the world and nothing to do," replied Steve cheerfully."We'll make that landing over there and you can come alongside us,Harry."

  Ten minutes later they were stretching their legs ashore. Canoe Placeheld plenty to interest them. The view was magnificent, for on one sideof them lay Shinnecock Bay, across whose still, pond-like waters theyhad just sailed, and on the other stretched the blue expanse of GreatPeconic Bay, sun-bathed, aglint with rippling waves and dotted withwhite sails. A small boy with one suspender performing the duty of twoand a straw hat minus about everything except the brim offered to guidethem and his proposition was quickly accepted and a bright new quarterchanged hands. The quaint old Inn was visited and their informantgravely pointed to two sentinel willow trees and told them that "themtrees was planted by Napoleon a couple o' hunerd years ago. He got 'emsome place called Saint Helen. They had him in prison there forsomethin'." The boys viewed the willows doubtfully, but, as Phil said,it was more fun to believe the extraordinary tale and they tried hard todo so. Steve attempted to secure more historical information from thesmall boy, but the latter appeared to have exhausted his fund. Afterthat they viewed several Summer estates from respectful distances and,finding that their guide had nothing further of real interest for them,went back to the landing and re-embarked.

  A quarter-mile or so of artificial canal took them through the narrowneck of land between the two bays and let them out in a cove beyondwhose mouth the waters of Great Peconic stretched, apparentlyillimitable. The course was set northeast by east and they began thetrip to Shelter Island. About half an hour later Joe discovered that the_Follow Me_ was far behind and it was soon evident that she had stopped.After a moment Steve decided to turn back and see what was wrong, andwhen the _Adventurer_ rounded the smaller boat's
stern they learned thatthe _Follow Me_ was having engine trouble. For a few minutes the_Adventurer_ hovered by, and then, as there was a fair breeze blowingnow and Joe and Neil were showing interest in the sea-sickness remedy,Steve suggested a tow and Harry Corwin, after some hesitation, pocketedhis pride and agreed. A little before one o'clock the two boats slippedinto North Sea Harbour and dropped anchors. While the _Follow Me_doctored her engine the _Adventurer_ sat down to a delayed dinner. Ossiegloomily predicted that everything would be spoiled, but if it was, noone save Ossie apparently knew it. There was broiled bluefish and boiledpotatoes and spinach and sliced cucumbers that day, followed by amarvellous concoction which the steward called a prune pudding. Perrysaid he didn't care what it was called so long as it came, and, pleasehe'd like some more! No cook can withstand such a compliment as that,and Ossie cast off his gloom. They all declared that that dinner wasjust about the best they had ever eaten, and they meant it, and Ossieswelled visibly with pride and almost declined Han's half-hearted offerto help wash dishes!

  When the rest went back to the deck and saw the fellows on the _FollowMe_ eating sandwiches and other items of a cold repast on deck they feltrather apologetic, and Joe and Steve slung the tender over and paddledacross to lend what assistance they might. But they found Tom Corwin,very dirty and hot and somewhat peevish, reassembling the engine withthe help of "Brownie," and learned that the trouble had been discoveredand that the boat would go just as soon as they could get her togetheragain, which, from present indications, would be some time the day aftertomorrow! Harry Corwin told Steve he had better go ahead, that there wasno use in the _Adventurer_ lying around and waiting, but Steve repliedthat there was no hurry and that they'd stand by. The atmosphere on the_Follow Me_ was not very cheerful and the visitors went back to theirown craft after a decent lapse of time. About three the fellows donnedswimming tights and went in from the boat and had a fine time in thewater, and by the time they had had enough of that there came aheartening _chug-chug-chug_ from the _Follow Me's_ exhaust and Winkannounced that they were ready to go on.

  As a result of the delay, it was almost six when they reached ShelterIsland and steered the cruiser to an anchorage. They had supper ashoreat seven, having dressed themselves in shore-going attire, but it wasnoticeable that it was the _Follow Me's_ company who made the most ofthe meal. Neil met up with an acquaintance on the hotel porch aftersupper--they chose to call it supper although it was really afull-course dinner--and that meeting led to introductions and the boys"did the society act," to use Perry's disgusted phrase, for the rest ofthe evening. As it was a Saturday night there was a dance going on, andSteve and Joe and Han, of the _Adventurer's_ crowd, and several of theother boat's company, took part. They didn't get back to the boats untilalmost midnight, and Perry fell asleep in the dingey, on the secondtrip, and had to be practically hoisted aboard. He muttered protestinglyuntil he had been dumped in his berth and then promptly went to sleep ashe was.

  They spent the next day at Shelter Island, not because anyoneconsidered it wrong to cruise on Sunday, but because Steve and Joe andHan had discovered attractions at the hotel. Perry demanded that thequestion of staying be put to a vote and the rest agreed, but the resultwasn't what Perry had hoped for because Neil basely cast his ballot withSteve and Joe and Han. The four went off soon after breakfast, havingspent much time and effort on their various attires, and weren't seenagain until late afternoon. At least, they weren't seen again aboard thecruiser until that time, although Perry, Phil and Ossie, following themashore after dinner, were scandalised to see them strolling around quitebrazenly in the company of an equal number of young ladies.

  "Girls!" snorted Perry scornfully. "Why, the big chumps, they look as ifthey liked it! Gee, it's enough to sicken a fellow!"