CHAPTER II
THE CRUISE BEGUN
"All aboard!" sang out Jack, as he thrust the paper containing suchsensational news into his pocket, to be glanced over at some moreconvenient season, and little suspecting how it would enter into thefortunes of the party of fun-loving boys while on their Easter holidays'cruise.
Everybody immediately seemed to be in motion, and the way in which thevarious crews stood by to cast off hawsers, while the skippers looked totheir engines, was well worth seeing.
"Let go!" called the commodore of the boat club, when he saw thateverything was ready.
The ropes were unfastened, and the three lads sprang aboard, just asthe current began to grip each boat, and cause it to slowly start uponthe new voyage that appeared so mild in the beginning, yet which wasdestined to be written down as one of the most adventurous of all thosethe six boys had enjoyed.
"Whoop! we're off!" yelled Buster, as he scrambled on board the Wireless,in his usual clumsy way, that brought a word of warning from George, andcaused the boat to careen badly.
"You will be off, if you try that sort of racket many times," declaredthe skipper. "What d'ye take this racer for, a canalboat? Be morecareful Buster, how you lounge around. I guess they nicknamed you rightwhen they called you Hippopotamus, Pudding, and all that sort. Now, sitdown exactly in the middle, and when you do have to move, be careful notto shift your weight too sudden-like. No boat can do its prettiest whenit isn't on an even keel."
"Say, is my hair parted exactly in the middle, George? If it ain't,please let me get it straight before you start!" observed the fat boy,with a touch of satire in his voice, something Buster seldom indulgedin; but he had sailed the stormy seas with George before and could lookback to many a sad time aboard that most uncomfortable Wireless; stillthe three fellows had drawn lots to see who would have to stand for theagony on this new cruise, and it had fallen to poor Buster to play thepart of victim.
George did not reply to this shot. He was busy with his engine, and boththe other boats were already moving off, with the rapid popping of theirexhausts announcing that everything was working in apple-pie order.
"Please don't tell me that we're all up the flue, even before we getstarted, George?" pleaded Buster, turning pale with apprehension.
"Keep still, won't you, Buster; you bother me," replied the other, stillworking at his engine. "It's only a little thing, that don't mattermuch. And you see, it gives us a chance to let the others get a lead.You know how much I like to come up from behind, and rush ahead? Well,that's what we're going to do now. Be a sport, Buster, and don't whineso much. Everything's going to be lovely, and the goose will hang high,I can tell you."
"I guess it will," sighed the fat boy, with a resigned expression on hisface, as though he realized that he was in for it, and might as wellmake the best of a bad bargain.
The boat was floating down the current, as Buster had pushed out fromthe shore with a pole, after getting aboard. The other craft had gottensome little distance away, and doubtless those on board were indulgingin the usual "I told you so's" that accompanied every mishap on the partof the Wireless, for both Jimmie and Josh could be seen looking back,and even waving their hands, as though saying good-bye.
Then all at once there came a quick series of sharp sounds, and Georgelooked up with a proud expression on his face, as the little power-boatbegan to rush through the water at racehorse speed.
"What did I tell you, Buster?" he observed, as he clutched the wheel,and turned the boat's head in a direct line with the others of thelittle fleet; "and after this, please don't act so impatient. Leave itall to me. An engine's a delicate thing to handle, and as full of whimsas a girl. Even the weather affects them at times; and they just have tobe coaxed, and led along. But I flatter myself I've got this thing downfine, now, and we won't have any trouble with it on this trip, while Icut circles around the other fellows."
That was a pet hobby with George, making speed, and "running rings"around his comrades. Nothing tickled him more than to be able to dothis, even though it failed to bother Jack or Herb in the least.
"Mebbe you're right, George," replied Buster, meekly, "you see, when itcomes to mechanics my education has been sadly neglected, and I couldn'trun an engine if my very life depended on it. All I've noticed is, thatthe other motors don't seem to bother about weather, or any old thing.They go plodding right along like they had business to do, and didn'tmean to be halted."
"That's just it, Buster," remarked the other eagerly, "they never havetroubles of their own because they're slow-pokes, like heavy farmhorses. It's the highly bred racer that's all nerves, you know. But lookat us eating up space, will you? Don't we fly along, though? This iswhat I like, Buster. What are you looking at me that way for?"
"I'm afraid I'm going to sneeze, George, and I hope it won't--ker-chew!oh! my, it's coming again, ker-chew! Excuse me, George. I'll try and notlet that happen often, if I can help it."
George looked at his companion rather suspiciously. He could not tellwhether Buster really meant what he said, or was speaking in irony. Butthe gallant way in which the narrow boat was cutting the water grippedhis attention again, and after that he could not bother himself withminor things.
They soon overtook the other two boats moving along in company. Jackcould have easily gone ahead of the beamy Comfort had he wished, but hepreferred to stay by Herb, so that the crews could exchange opinionsfrom time to time. In his mind a large part of the pleasure to be gottenout of cruising came from this sociability; whereas George would berushing off by himself, satisfied if only he could make a mile in afraction less time than at any previous time.
In ten minutes George was far ahead, and making the water fly out oneither side as he urged his engine on to do its prettiest.
"Up to his old tricks again," remarked Josh, as he tidied up a littleaboard the Tramp, secretly delighted that luck had given him a berthwith the commodore, whom he admired greatly.
"Well, what did you expect?" replied Jack, who was taking things easy,with his engine working like a charm, "what's bred in the bone can neverbe beaten out of the flesh, they say; and George, with his nervous ways,cares only for racing, whenever he can coax anybody to give him a go.But mark what I say, Josh, it's only a question of time before he rubsup against his old motor troubles again. He's never satisfied when he'sgot the thing running smoothly, but has to go tinkering at it to see ifhe can't get another fraction of speed out, and then all at once itbalks, and refuses to work at all."
"Yes," remarked Josh, with a wide grin, "we may be towing the Wirelessback home yet; and it wouldn't be the first time, either, Jack."
"Well, hardly," mused the skipper, smiling himself as memory carried himback to other scenes connected with their numerous cruises in these sameboats.
"Does George know that we expect to tie up at noon, and have a biteashore; or will he be silly enough to want to rush along that way, andget to the island long before we think of pulling in there?" Josh wenton to ask.
"He knows our plans all right," answered the other, "though you cannever tell what George will do, he's so full of notions. But as stuff toeat is aboard the roomy Comfort, and we're carrying the rest, unless hewants to starve poor old Buster, so as to cut down his weight, and makeless ballast for the speed-boat to carry, I guess he'll haul in abouteleven and wait for us."
"Oh! I don't envy Buster his job of holding down that bucking broncho ofa Wireless," Josh chuckled. "I c'n see him right now, sitting there,holding on, and looking like he was tryin' to accommodate his breathin'with the panting of the engine, while George he looks daggers every timeBuster gulps in a wad of air at the wrong time."
"Oh! come now, Josh, it isn't quite so bad as all that," declared Jack,with a shake of his head. "And even George couldn't keep Buster fromhaving his own way, once he gets started. It's good he learned how toswim long ago, because chances are, he'll be overboard more than oncebefore this voyage is done."
"Mebbe George'll throw him over,
when he gets nervous, and Buster keepswobbling around, making the boat roll to beat the band, eh, Jack?"
"Well, you know how that is yourself, because that's what happened whenyou had the job of crew aboard his boat," the skipper of the Tramp wenton to say; which reminder seemed to afford Josh considerable amusement,to judge from his laughter.
They went on steadily, putting mile after mile behind them. Now and thensome river craft was encountered, though these were of course not near sonumerous as would have been the case below the confluence of the Missouriand Ohio with the Father of Waters. Sometimes it was a steamboat that wasbreasting the current; or it might be a plodding towboat, with a barge ortwo alongside. And then again they overtook a queer looking shantyboat,which had the appearance, with its cabin, of a cheese box on a raft.
All these familiar sights were eagerly observed by Jack and hiscompanion, as well as the two upon the other boat, for they recalledpleasant memories.
George had gone so far ahead that his little boat looked like a dot uponthe water; but possibly he would remember in time that he had no meansof satisfying hunger aboard the Wireless, and might anchor to awaittheir coming, giving Buster a chance to wet a line, for the fat boy hadtaken a great fancy for fishing, and was always complaining that he didnot get half the opportunities to indulge in his favorite sport that hewould like.
Now and then they would pass a town upon either shore of the river,although as a rule these were not so plentiful in this section, wherethe banks were inclined to be marshy.
The morning was gradually wearing away, and everything seemed to begoing smoothly. Josh expressed himself as surprised that hours hadpassed, and still the nettlesome speed-boat continued to keep goingalong, as though George had indeed finally mastered the secret of itsprecious unreliable behavior.
"But when George is around, you c'n expect any old thing to happen," hewound up with, "and even when things are working smoothly, he won't besatisfied till he upsets the combination again, you see if it ain't so."
Jack did not attempt to contradict his prediction, because he also knewGeorge like a book and thought pretty much the same way.
Just about eleven, Josh declared that they seemed to be graduallygetting nearer the pilot boat of the party, as George liked to have hiscraft called; though for that part he would have made a most unreliableguide, and had the others chosen to follow him, they would have been ledinto many more messes than actually fell to their lot.
"That's because Buster has rebelled," Jack observed, "there's been amutiny aboard that craft; and George had been told that for one Busterdoesn't mean to miss his lunch at noon, just because the Wireless ismaking a record run."
"Oh! you mean they've thrown the old mud hook over, and are waiting forus slow-pokes to come along, eh, Jack?"
"Just about that; but we're getting all the fun we want out of makingslower time; and our engines won't go back on us either, in spite,"laughed the other.
"Well, while we're gliding along in this fine way--I always like to usethat word when speaking of cruising, it sounds so fine--I'll be gettingup the menu for our first dinner ashore. It makes my mouth water just tothink of a campfire again, after all that time. Brought your little oldMarlin along, didn't you, Jack? P'raps we might get a few late duckswhile we're out, if all of 'em ain't gone north by now. And if Busteronly does his duty, and grabs up a fish now and then, why, it'll be justgreat."
So Josh, who used to be something of a cook in times past, amusedhimself in a way that suited his fancy, while they drew closer andcloser to the place where the speed-boat awaited them.
George was full of boasting as usual, and predicted a record run for hiscraft. None of the others disputed his assertions, but they exchangedlooks, for they had heard all this sort of talk before, and then seenpoor disappointed George only too glad to take a tow in the end, withhis engine stubborn, or broken down.
Together they continued on down the river; where they could readily tieto the bank, and go ashore to cook dinner.
There was a great deal of climbing back and forth, and everybody butGeorge seemed bustling with business; he sat there, and pottered withhis engine, as though some new idea had seized hold of him, and hemeant to try one of his everlasting experiments that always ended sodisastrously.
Then the voice of Buster was heard in the land, lamenting.
"It was there yesterday, because I put it in away with my own hands; andGeorge here says he never opened that locker once; but now that I wantto put it on, my new sweater has disappeared the funniest way ever. Iwouldn't be surprised, fellers, if we found that some thief got aboardour boats last night, and couldn't resist taking that bully sweater withthe red moon on the front; and that's what!"