CHAPTER XXII
TWO BOYS AND A BOAT
It was nearly a week after Leicester had written to Jack Harris, tellinghim that he might come up and board at the hotel, when, one afternoon,the Dorrance children heard queer sounds coming up from the direction ofthe dock.
All four ran to look over the rail of the upper landing, and saw astrange-looking craft anchored at the dock. On the dock were two boysand Mr. Hickox; the latter gentleman apparently much excited andinterested.
"It's Jack Harris!" cried Leicester, "and another fellow with him; and,oh, I say, girls, they've got a motor-boat!"
"What's a motor-boat?" cried Fairy; but as all four were then flyingdown the steps at a rapid speed, nobody answered her.
Wondering who the second boy could be, and filled with delightfulcuriosity as to the wonderful motor-boat, the Dorrances reached thedock with astonishing rapidity.
"Hi, Jack," cried Leicester, "thought you were coming up by train. Whata dandy boat! Yours?"
"No," said Jack, whipping off his cap, and shaking hands with Dorothy;"it belongs to my chum here, Bob Irwin. I've brought him along, Dorothy,and I hope you can take us both in. Less said you had plenty of room. Iwould have written, but Bob only decided to come at the last minute, andwe were so busy and excited getting the boat off, that I forgot totelegraph, though I meant to do so."
Bob Irwin was a big, jolly-looking boy, of about seventeen or eighteen,and his smile was so broad and comprehensive that the Dorrances feltacquainted at once.
"Indeed we have plenty of room," said Dorothy, answering young Irwin'sgreeting; "and we're very glad to have you both,--and your boat too,"she added, still looking with a sort of fascination at the trim littleaffair.
"She is a jolly little craft," said Bob Irwin, frankly; "I've only hadher a few weeks. I named her _Shooting Star_, because she goes like one.We came all the way up from Jersey City by the canal."
"All the way!" exclaimed Lilian; "what fun you must have had comingthrough the locks!"
"Well yes,--but there were so many of them. The planes were worse,though; _Shooting Star_ didn't take to those kindly at all. However,we're here; and if you'll keep us, we'll all have a good deal of fun onthis lake."
"I didn't know you could come all the way by canal," said Leicester."Are they willing to open the locks for you?"
"Oh, Bob's uncle is a Grand High Mogul or something in the canalcompany, and he gave us a permit. I tell you it was great fun; the boatgoes like a greased arrow."
"Would you like to go for a little spin around the lake, now, all ofyou?" asked Bob.
"No,--not now," said Dorothy, looking at her watch. "We'd love to, butit is too near dinner-time for us to go now. You know, as hotelproprietors, we have duties to attend to at scheduled hours; and we mustbe found at our posts."
Though said with apparent carelessness, this was really a brave bit ofself-denial on Dorothy's part. For she was eager to try the pretty boat,and, too, there was nearly a half hour before her presence at the hotelwas actually necessary.
But she had learned by experience that to go out on the lake was aproceeding which could not be accurately timed, and she knew that herduty pointed towards keeping on the safe side. Beside this, she musthave another room put in readiness, for she had expected only Jack.
"But I _do_ want to go out in the motor-boater," cried Fairy, dancingaround the dock, and waving her arms. "Will you take us some other time,Mr. Bob?"
"Indeed I will," said Bob, heartily; "and anyway, it's just as well totake our traps up now, and get settled."
"Hickox is your man," said that long individual, suddenly interruptinghis own investigation of the marvelous boat. "Hickox'll cart your truckup the hill. Where might it be?"
"Here you are," and Bob sprang into the _Shooting Star_ and tossed outthree suit cases and a lot of odds and ends of luggage. "But we fellowscan carry them up."
"No, sir, no, sir; Hickox'll look after things. It'll be all right."
Jack laughed at the familiar phrases, and Bob Irwin looked on withamusement while Mr. Hickox stowed the things in his queer-looking cart.
"And this is for you and your sisters, Miss Dorothy," said Bob, as heemerged with a final parcel.
There was no mistaking the contents of the neatly tied up box of candy;but it was of such a size that it nearly took the girls' breath away.
"Oh, thank you," cried Dorothy, dimpling with smiles. "I haven't had aspeck of New York candy since I've been here. And the Woodvillegum-drops are so highly colored and so stiff inside, that they're not abit of fun."
"They were made summer before last, too," said Leicester; "they ought tobe sold as antiques."
"A whole big box of candy for our very own!" cried Fairy; "oh, that'sbetter than the promoter-boat, or whatever you call it. And part of thecandy is _my_ very own, isn't it, Mr. Bob?"
"Yes, indeed; to do whatever you like with."
"Then I shall give half of my share to Mrs. Hickox. She'll be _so_surprised. I don't believe she ever saw any real choklits orbutter-cuppers."
Leicester carried the precious box, and the six children climbed thesteps to the Dorrance Domain. Naturally, Fairy reached the top first,and ran up the veranda steps, shouting, "Oh, grannymother! we've got twonew boarders, and they came in an automobile-ship, and they brought abushel of candy, real splendiferous New York candy,--and his name isBob!"
Grandma Dorrance had always liked Leicester's friend Jack, and shewillingly extended her welcome to the pleasant-faced Bob.
The two boys were a decided addition to the gayety of the DorranceDomain.
And the _Shooting Star_ proved to be an equally desirable adjunct.Instead of rowing over to Dolan's Point each morning for the marketing,or harnessing old Dobbin and driving there, the swift little motor-boatdid the errand in less than half the time, and was moreover a pleasureand delight.
Besides this there were merry excursions on the lake in the afternoonsand evenings.
One day, when they had started out immediately after luncheon, and,owing to Mr. Black's expected arrival, were to have a late dinner, thesix children made an exploring tour of the whole lake.
"I want to find out," said Bob, as they started off, "what feeds thislake. There must be several inlets and some of them large ones. A lakenine miles long has got to be fed by something."
"This lake is so tame it would eat out of your hand," said Leicester.
"Even so, _I_ wouldn't want to feed it," said Dorothy; "my present arrayof table boarders is quite enough for me, thank you."
"There _is_ an inlet," said Lilian, "just this side of Dolan's Point.The one that has the floating bridge across it, you know."
"But that isn't enough to make any impression on this big lake,"insisted Bob; "there must be two or three arms somewhere, and if thereare, we'll find them to-day; for I'm going all around the shores of thelake."
So the _Shooting Star_ shot ahead, and skirted the margin of the lakefor miles and miles.
But except the one at Dolan's Point, no inlet of any sort wasdiscovered, and the round trip was completed by a crowd of mystifiedexplorers.
"It's the queerest thing!" said Bob, whose scientific inquiries wereprompted by a tenacious mind. "The water in Lake Ponetcong certainlymust come from somewhere."
"I think it rains in," said Fairy, with a sage expression. "It hasn'trained much this summer, but it rained a lot when we were in New York,and I s'pose the water just stayed in."
"I think it just was here from the beginning," said Lilian, "and somehowit never got away."
"That would do for some lakes," said Dorothy; "but here, they're alwaysletting it out through the locks; and it does seem as if it would haveto be filled up again, some way."
That evening the children put the puzzling question to Mr. Faulkner. Hewas a great favorite with the crowd of young people, and though ascientific man, he was capable of making explanations that were entirelycomprehensible to their youthful minds.
They were all interested, thou
gh perhaps Bob Irwin was more especiallyso, in learning that Lake Ponetcong was fed entirely by springs in itsbed.
This phrase pleased the Dorrance children very much, as their sense ofhumor was touched by what they chose to call the spring-bed of the lake.
But Bob was more seriously interested, and listened attentively to Mr.Faulkner's description of what was an unusual, though not unprecedentedphenomenon.
Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner accompanied them on their motor-boattrips; sometimes, too, Mr. and Mrs. Black went; but the Van Arsdaleladies refused to be persuaded to risk their lives in any suchmysterious contrivance.
The Black children and their nurses were taken out once, but upon theirreturn Bob Irwin declared himself unwilling ever again to carry such anemotional and cosmopolitan crowd. The baby shrieked and yelled inEnglish, the French nurse and German nurse shrieked in their respectivelanguages, and the way they all jumped about was really a serious menaceto safety.
There seemed to be no end to the energies or the resources of the threeboys in providing pleasure and entertainment.
Jack and Bob shared Leicester's duties as a matter of course; and thoughLeicester protested, the others insisted on helping him in whatever hehad to do. They froze ice cream, they mowed the grass, they splitkindling-wood,--and they looked on these things as pastimes rather thantasks. They were big, strong, good-natured fellows, and firm friends andadmirers of all the Dorrances.
Bob declared that although he drew the line at pushing the Black babies'perambulators, yet he was perfectly willing to act as Miss Mary's escortwhenever desired.
One notable achievement of the boys', was a roof-garden. Jack haddiscovered the possibilities of the hotel roof during his earlier visit;and at his proposition it was arranged most attractively.
Small evergreen trees were brought from the woods and taken up to theroof where they were made to stand about in hedges or clusters. Rusticchairs, settees and tables were found in the storerooms, and rugs wereplaced about. Hammocks were swung, and over the top of all was rigged anawning, which could be rolled away if desired.
Chinese lanterns made the place gay by night, and flags and buntingformed part of the decoration.
Summer night concerts were often held here, and when Tessie wouldappear with iced lemonade and cakes and fruit, everybody declared thatnever had there been a hotel so admirably managed as the DorranceDomain.