The Adventure Club Afloat | Page 3

them."
"Don't you believe it! I've looked for them for years and I've never seen
one yet." Perry swung his feet to the floor and sat up.
"Well, not at Delaware Water Gap, naturally. You've got to move
around, son. You don't find them by sitting all day with your feet on the
rail of a hotel piazza."
"Where do you find them, then?" Perry demanded.
Steve waved a hand vaguely aloft into the greenish radiance of the
lamp. "All round. North, east, south and west. Land or sea. Adventures,
Perry, are for the adventurous. Now, here we are, three able-bodied
fellows fairly capable of looking after ourselves in most situations,
tired of the humdrum life of Summer resorts. What's to prevent our
spending a couple of months together and finding some adventures? Of
course, we can't go to Africa and shoot lions and wart-hogs--whatever
they may be,--and we can't fit out an Arctic exploration party and
discover Ingersoll Land or Bush Inlet or Chapman's Passage, but we
could have a mighty good time, I'd say, and, even if we didn't have
many hair-breadth escapes, I'll bet it would beat chasing tennis balls

and doing the Australian crawl and keeping our white shoes and
trousers clean!"
"We could be as dirty as we liked!" sighed Perry ecstatically. "Lead me
to it!"
"It sounds positively fascinating," drawled Joe, "but just how would we
go about it? My folks, for some unfathomable reason, think quite a lot
of me, and I don't just see them letting me amble off like that;
especially in--um--such disreputable company."
"I should think they'd be glad to be rid of you for a Summer," said
Perry. "Anyhow, let's make believe it's possible, fellows, and talk about
it."
"Why isn't it possible?" asked Steve. "My folks would raise objections
as well as yours, Joe, but I guess I could fetch them around. After all,
there's no more danger than in staying at home and trying to break your
neck driving an automobile sixty miles an hour. Let's really consider
the scheme, fellows. I'm in earnest. I want to do it. What Perry said is
just what I've been thinking without saying. Why, hang it, a fellow
needs something of the sort to teach him sense and give him experience.
This thing of hanging around a hotel porch all Summer makes a regular
mollycoddle of a fellow. I'm for revolt!"
"Hear! Hear!" cried Perry enthusiastically. "Revolution! A bas la
Summer Resort! Viva Adventure!"
"Shut up, idiot! Do you really mean it, Steve, or are you just talking? If
you mean it, I'm with you to the last--um--drop of blood, old chap! I've
always wanted to revolt about something, anyway. One of my ancestors
helped throw the English breakfast tea into Boston Harbour. But I don't
want to get all het up about this unless there's really something in it
besides jabber."
"We start the first day of July," replied Steve decisively.
"Where for?"

"That is the question, friends. Shall it be by land or sea?"
"Land," said Joe.
"Sea," said Perry.
"The majority rules and I cast my vote with Perry. Adventures are more
likely to be found on the water, I think, and it's adventures we are
looking for."
"But I always get seasick," objected Joe. "And when I'm seasick you
couldn't tempt me with any number of adventures. I simply--um--don't
seem to enthuse much at such times."
"You can take a lemon with you," suggested Perry cheerfully. "My
grandmother--"
Joe shook his head. "They don't do you any good," he said sadly.
"Don't they! My grandmother--"
"Bother your grandmother! How do we go to sea, Steve? Swim or--or
how?"
"We get my father's cruiser," replied Steve simply. "She's a forty-footer
and togged out like an ocean-liner. Has everything but a
swimming-pool. She--"
"Nix on the luxuries," interrupted Perry. "The simple life for me. Let's
hire an old moth-eaten sailboat--"
"Nothing doing, Sweet Youth! If I'm to risk my life on the heaving
ocean I want something under me. Besides, being seasick is rotten
enough, anyhow, without having to roll around in the cock-pit of a
two-by-twice sailboat. That cruiser listens well, Steve, but--um--will
papa fall for it? If it was my father--"
"I think he will," answered Steve seriously. "Dad doesn't have much
chance to use the boat himself, and this Summer he's likely to be in the

city more than ever. The trouble is that the Cockatoo is almost too big
for three of us to handle."
"Oh, piffle!"
"It's so, though. I know the boat, Perry. She's pretty big when it comes
to making a landing or picking up a mooring. If we were all fairly good
seamen it might be all right, but I wouldn't want to try to handle the
Cockatoo without a couple of sailors