Ralph Henry Barbour

“ They made quite a ceremony of that dinner. Dick, imbued with the spirit of the occasion, made a jelly omelet as a pièce de résistance, and piled [408] every good thing that the larder contained on the table up under the striped awning. They had stopped the headlong career of the Slow Poke where a murmuring grove of trees came down and leaned over the water as though to watch their green finery mirrored back to them from the calm surface. They had snubbed the boat’s bow close to shore, so that half the upper deck was in the cool shadow, and at that end they had placed the table. ”

“ For me, a few of the clams, a little of the consommé—with radishes and cucumbers, some of the bluefish, a wee portion of the boiled fowl, a slice of beef, some potatoes, cauliflower, beets, and—yes, macaroni au gratin, a taste of the raspberry sherbet, a bit of the salad—”
“Oh, let up, for goodness’ sake!” begged Roy. “You make me feel as though I had already had a big dinner. Let’s cut the clams out and get down to business; I’m hungry. I want soup and lots of it. Pass the bread, Dick.”
“You talk like a gourmand,” said Chub sorrowfully. “I beg of you not to spoil your appetite with bread. ”

“ Chub tooted the whistle frenziedly, there was much waving of caps, and the landing fell away astern.
The Slow Poke made good time that day. They stopped above Poughkeepsie for dinner and in the afternoon went on up against a stiff tide as far as Kingston. It was a day of alternate sun and cloud and the scenery on both sides of the broad stream merited all the attention they gave it. For the most part, when not busy with navigation, they sat under the awning and were beautifully lazy. Just before sunset, they tied up to the bank and prepared supper. ”

“ Each tent appeared to have its own fireplace and commissary. Kettles and pans littered the ground about the piles of ashes, and here and there dried branches were heaped for fuel. It was all rather interesting, and for a moment Chub quite forgot his errand.
There were three men, perhaps twice as many women, and several children, the children ranging in age all the way from that of the baby, who kicked and crowed in his mother’s arms, to that of the lad of apparently twelve, who was lazily breaking up fire-wood with an ax at the far side of the camp. ”

“ The Slow Poke put thirty miles behind her between breakfast and supper and life became more cheerful. Just before sunset the clouds broke and a vivid red glow in the northwest promised a fair day on the morrow. That evening the Doctor began to talk of trout again, and Chub brought his map down to the table in the forward cabin and they searched it for likely fishing places. The result was that in the morning they chugged four miles down stream, crossed over to the west shore, and found a mooring in a charming little sandy cove. ”

“ This to Roy and Dick.
“Look here, Mr. Ewing,” said Roy, calmly, “you’ve made a fool of yourself once before, and it’s time to quit. We weren’t robbing your house that other time, and we don’t know any more about this affair than we’ve told you. And if you think we’re going to let you lock us up in a stuffy old room just so you can make a goose of yourself, you’re mightily mistaken. Come on, Harry, and leave this crazy man to himself.” ”

“ Get busy with dinner, Dick; I’m almost dead, I’m so hungry. This early breakfast business won’t do.”
When the meal was ready, Chub let out a howl of delight.
“Doughnuts!” he shouted. “Hooray! Where’d you get ’em?”
“Made them, of course,” replied Roy, loftily. “Harry assisted me. She’s real handy about the kitchen. I don’t know what I’d have done without her.”
“Huh!” said Chub. “She could have done without you, Roy. You ate more than she made.”
“Roy did beautifully,” Harry said. “I couldn’t have got along without him.”
Roy bowed impressively, and Chub grunted in derision. ”

“ How’s old Roy? He owes me a letter, the scoundrel. Write as soon as you can to the Waldorf. I’ll be there to-morrow evening. Tell Roy to come and see me as soon as he gets home. You, too, if you stop over there. I’ve got lots of news for you that I can tell better than I can write. Hope you fellows win your game to-morrow. They’d ought to have taken you on, Chub. But next year, when I get there, I’ll fix that for you. So long. Don’t forget to let me know whether we can have the house-boat. ”

“ THE BURGLARY “Kerosene, potatoes, condensed milk, cheese, and bacon,” said Dick, writing the items on a slip of paper.
Chub groaned.
“More bacon?” he asked dismally.
“Well, we’ve got to have some sort of meat,” answered Dick, “and we can’t get fresh meat here. All those things we can get at the store to-morrow. But we’ll have to reach a real town pretty soon. We ought to have meat and fresh vegetables and fruit.”
“Look here,” said Roy, “there are plenty of farms around here. Why not see if we can’t get some vegetables and fruit at one of them to-morrow? ”

“ Doctor Emery pretended that the voyage was to last for months at least and was very solicitous as to the state of the larder. Mrs. Emery, her sister, and John, the gardener and general factotum, were on hand to witness the departure and to wave good-by as the Slow Poke nosed her way free of the landing and started off on the second stage of her voyage.
“Good-by, mama!” called Harry from the upper deck, waving a wisp of a handkerchief frantically.
“Good-by!” called Mrs. Emery. “Don’t fall overboard!”
“I won’t,” promised Harry, earnestly. ”

“ Half an hour later they were sitting on the upper deck, their feet on the railing, feeling very much at peace with the world. To be sure, the mosquitoes were somewhat troublesome, but they strove to take Chub’s advice and bear the annoyance philosophically. A white light hung from the flag-pole above the wheel-house and from the after cabin a feeble glow spread itself over the water. They had left a lighted lamp there to fool the mosquitoes. ”

“ At the right was the lane—and safety.
"He isn't in sight," Roy answered in whispers. "But he may come."
"That doesn't matter," answered Chub, recklessly. "I want to go home to supper. Push up the window."
Roy obeyed. The sash creaked and screamed as he forced it up and they paused and held their breath, expecting to see the dog come bounding into sight. But nothing happened.
“You go first, Roy,” said Chub. “Dick and I can run faster than you.”
“Want me to have the first bite, eh?” laughed Roy, as he put a knee over the sill.
“Be quiet! Don’t make so much noise,” said Chub. “Get on out.” ”

“ Ordinarily it’s the easiest thing in the world to catch a grasshopper. All you have to do is to stand still and the silly things will jump onto you; especially if you happen to have on something white. But to-day Chub found the grasshopper the most illusive of game, almost as illusive as trout! ”

“ In the forward cabin,—or living-room, just as you had a mind to call it,—chairs and table had congregated against one wall as though holding a conference.
“Seems to me,” said Chub, “we’re going to need a lot of things. We ought to have new curtains all over the shop, cot-beds, bedding, some more chairs—”
“Well, we’ve got those all down,” answered Roy shortly. “What is most important. I fancy, is to have someone go over the engine.”
“You bet,” Dick agreed. “We can do without new curtains better than we can do without an engine. ”

“ A NEW ACQUAINTANCE IT was a beautiful evening. In the west the sunset glow still hung above the hills. Eastward the full moon’s great, golden disk was poised against the darkening blue of the summer sky. ”

“ Dear, dear, what a beautiful thing it is to be young! We never realize it until it’s too late. Now what’s the news?”
They perched themselves side by side on the broad window-seat and the artist lifted the heavy chair from the dais with one hand as though it weighed but an ounce and sprawled his great body in it. Jack settled back amongst the cushions with his head on Dick’s knee.
“I guess there isn’t much to tell,” said Roy. “Chub and I have been at college and Dick here is coming up in the fall.”
“If I can pass,” muttered Dick.
“And Miss Harry? How is she?” asked Mr. Cole. ”

“ The striped awning fluttered in the breeze, the geraniums were masses of scarlet bloom and the gaily-hued rugs added their quota of color. There were wicker chairs for all, although Dick preferred to lie [236] stretched out on the deck with a cushion under his head. Sometimes during siesta the Doctor fell frankly asleep and snored gently, and the others talked in whispers for fear of awaking him. But Harry was impatient of idleness, and as soon as the two hours were up she insisted on weighing anchor. ”

“ Chub pretended to be fearful of trusting his weight to the slender chairs, and all three were grinning and giggling when the man appeared again, suddenly and noiselessly. Down a marble-tiled hall carpeted with narrow Oriental rugs in dull colors they were led to an elevator. When they were inside, the butler touched a button and the tiny car, white-and-gold like the reception-room, shot up past two floors and stopped, apparently of its own volition, at the third, and the boys emerged to find themselves in a great studio that evidently occupied the whole fourth floor of the house. ”

“ Presently Chub pushed back his chair with a sigh of contentment.
“Come on, Roy,” he said. “Let us go up and sit on deck and watch the pageant of Nature while the hireling cleans up the dishes.”
“No you don’t!” retorted the hireling. “You and Roy will stay right here and help. You needn’t think I’m going to do everything on this blooming boat!”
“That smacks of mutiny, methinks,” said Chub. “What do you say, Roy? Still, I’ll stay and add my feeble assistance. I choose to wipe the dishes.” ”

“ But just look what a boat-builder does! He makes three rooms, a kitchen, and an engine compartment, all sorts of closets and cupboards, puts a roof garden and a pilot-house on top and runs a piazza all around it! Why, a fellow I know at home has a little old launch about twenty feet long and six feet wide and I’m blessed if he hasn’t pretty nearly everything inside of her except a ball-room! I’m blamed if I see how they do it!”
On the Jolly Roger, beginning forward, there was a living-room nine feet by ten. ”

“ Just when I’m beginning to feel comfortable you ask me to get up and walk! Walk! If you’d said ride, now—”
“Well, let’s,” said Dick. “Let’s get on the top of one of those silly Fifth Avenue stages and bump uptown. It’s lots of fun, honest; you think every minute that the fool thing’s going to topple over!”
“What joy!” murmured Chub. “Let us go. I’m the neat little toppler. Besides, maybe it will help settle my luncheon and give me an appetite for dinner.”
“Great Scott!” exclaimed Roy. “You’re not thinking about dinner already are you?”
“I’m thinking of nothing else,” responded Chub. ”

“ Chub viewed them scornfully.
“Of course you would,” he replied with deep sarcasm.
“Well, I would,” insisted Roy. “I’d be generous. Now—”
“I guess you’re like the Irishman,” said Chub. “His name was Pat.”
“It always is in a story,” murmured Dick.
“One day his friend Mike met him and said: ‘Pat, they tell me you’re a Socialist.’ ‘I am,’ says Pat. ‘Well, now, tell me, Pat, what is a Socialist?’ ‘A Socialist,’ says Pat, ‘is a feller that divides his property equally. ”

“ Roy and Dick were gazing fascinatedly at the farmer, and Mr. Ewing was staring malevolently back at them.
“James, there’s been thieves here,” said Mrs. Peel, “and they stole—how much did they take, Miss?”
“They took all the money in the drawer,” said Harry, “and we reckoned up that they’d taken about nine dollars’ worth of bacon and canned goods. They broke in the back door—”
“Up to your old tricks again, are ye?” asked Mr. Ewing, harshly. “Ain’t content with robbing farms, eh? Have to take the bread out of the mouths of the widows and orphans, too, do ye?” ”

“ In spite of the limitations of space and utensils, the frying was a big success, and, as Roy was allowed to help himself to the sizzling, hot doughnuts as soon as they were sugared, he regained some degree of happiness.
“There!” exclaimed Harry, when the last batch was being powdered with sugar from an improvised shaker which Roy had fashioned from a baking-powder tin by punching holes in the lid. “That makes eight dozen and three. And then you ate—how many, Roy?”
“Five,” answered Roy, promptly and unblushingly.
“Roy Porter! You won’t have any appetite for dinner!” ”

“ They chugged unhurriedly up the river all the morning, the engine much to Dick’s delight, workworking beautifully. At noon they tied up near Ossining and had dinner.
“I’d hate to travel on that,” said Chub, pointing with his fork to a steamer which was gliding by out in the river. “It goes so fast those people can’t begin to see the beauties of the country. Now with us it’s different. We catch sight of an object of interest at ten in the morning. At eleven we approach it. At twelve we reach it. At one we are by but still have it in plain sight. ”

“ Chub walked over to the nearest casement and looked out.
“He’s lying on the porch with his nose about half an inch from the door,” he reported, disgustedly. “He’s a Saint Bernard, I guess.”
“I don’t care what he is,” said Roy. “He’s a nuisance. What shall we do?”
“Put your head out of the window and yell,” suggested Dick. “They’re probably in the barn.”
“All right, but not that window,” Chub answered. He went to the farther side of the kitchen, raised the window there and yelled loudly.
“Hello! You in the barn! Call off your dog! Hello! Hello!” ”

“ Will you?”
“Do you really think I’ve grown?” she asked, eagerly.
“Grown!” echoed Roy. “You look a whole foot taller!”
“That’s because she wears her hair that way,” said Dick.
“Dick Somes, it is not!” Harry turned upon him indignantly.
“Dick Somes, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!” mimicked Chub. “Don’t you mind him, Harry. He never did have any manners in spite of my careful training. We were beginning to think you weren’t here, Harry.” ”

“ The car sprang forward and in a moment had disappeared in a cloud of dust. Dick went back to the store.
“Did they pay you?” asked Harry, eagerly.
“I should say they did.” Dick exhibited the five-dollar bill. “He said this would pay for the gasolene and the other stuff, and I was to keep the change. I kept it.”
“But the chauffeur paid for the gasolene!” cried Roy. “Call them back!”
“You go out and call,” said Dick, dryly. “They’re a mile away by this time. If they want their money, they’ll come back for it. Meanwhile it goes to Mrs. Peel.” ”