The Adventure Club Afloat | Page 9

sea for a full week.
Although Steve and Joe had provisioned the _Cockatoo_--which, by
the way, was no longer the Cockatoo, but the Adventurer, having been
renamed during the process of painting--the crew had not been
altogether idle during their wait. Each had thought of something further
to add. Ossie, who, as a special favour, was to be allowed to try his
hand at cooking, had made several trips between a big department store
on Fulton Street and had returned to the basin laden each time with
mysterious packages, many of which rattled or clinked when deposited

in the galley. Perry had purchased an inexpensive talking machine and
a dozen records. Neil had contributed a patent life-preserver that looked
like a waistcoat to be used by an Arctic explorer and was guaranteed to
keep Barnum and Bailey's fat man afloat. Phil had supplied the cabin
with magazines, few of them, to Perry's chagrin, of the sort anyone but
a "highbrow" would care to tackle. Joe, as an after-thought, had stocked
up heavily with Mother Somebody's Cure for Seasickness. George
Hanford had tried to smuggle on board a black and white puppy about a
foot long which he had bought on a street corner for two dollars and a
half. Steve, however, had objected strenuously and Han had been
forced to see the puppy's former owner and sell his purchase back for a
dollar, the value of it having decreased surprisingly in a few hours.
Even Steve had supplemented the boat's contents the day before by
stowing two desperate-looking revolvers and several boxes of
cartridges in a locker in the forward cabin.
Then, too, they had each outfitted more or less elaborately, according to
their pocket-books. Steve and Joe had pointed out that, with seven
aboard, locker room would be at a premium, and had urged the others
to take as little in the way of personal luggage as they could get along
with. But when the out-of-town boys got into the stores the advice was
soon forgotten. Neil had outfitted as if he was about to set forth on a
voyage around the world, and Han was not far behind him. Perry would
have liked, too, to become the proud possessor of some of the things
the former fellows brought aboard, but Perry's finances were low after
he had paid for that talking machine, and so, with the exception of a
new grey sweater, he had made no additions to his wardrobe. This
morning he had volunteered to go to the basin early and superintend the
loading of ice and water, and now, those things aboard, he was
wondering, a trifle resentfully, why the others didn't come. They were
to cast off at eleven and it was now well after ten.
"Probably," he muttered, edging back so that he could have the support
of the big, round smoke-stack, "Neil's buying another necktie! It would
serve them right if I started the thing up and went off without them." As,
however, Perry knew absolutely nothing about a gasoline engine, there
was little likelihood of his carrying that threat into action. In any case,

there would have been no excuse, for less than a minute later he
descried the tardy ones skirting the shed and coming along the wharf.
They looked, Perry thought with satisfaction, very hot and disgruntled
as, each carrying his belongings in a parcel so that there would be no
bags to stow away, they approached the boat. Although Perry was no
mechanician, he quite understood the operation of an electric horn, and
now, swinging nimbly down to the bridge deck, he set the palm of his
hand against a big black button. The result was all that he desired. An
amazing, ear-splitting shriek broke the ordinary clamour of the scene.
Perry smiled ecstatically and peered out and up from under the awning.
But the half-dozen countenances that looked down at him expressed
only disgust, and Joe's voice came to him even above the blast of the
horn.
"Don't be a silly fool, Perry!" shouted Joe peevishly. "Let that alone
and catch these bundles!"
Perry obeyed and one by one the fellows scrambled from wharf to boat.
And, having reached the bridge deck, they subsided exhaustedly onto
the two cushioned seats or the gunwale. Perry viewed their inflamed,
perspiring faces in smiling surprise. "What did you do?" he asked.
"Run all the way?"
"Joe got us on the wrong car," panted Neil, "and we went halfway to
Coney Island, I guess."
"It wasn't my fault any more than it was yours," growled Joe. "You had
eyes, hadn't you?"
"We had eyes," replied Ossie from behind his handkerchief, as he
wiped his streaming face, "but we aren't supposed to know where these
silly cars go to."
"I didn't have any trouble," murmured