Part 31 (1/2)
”He had you there, Tommy,” said Bob.
”I'll bet Tommy won't challenge any one else in a hurry,” Nelson laughed.
”Oh, well, what's the good of having a boat like that, anyway?” asked Tom disgustedly. ”Even if it does go fast there isn't room to sit down in it comfortably. It's a fool thing!”
Shortly afterwards they were off Point Judith, and in spite of the fact that the weather was calm and the ocean smiling there was a sea there that made the _Vagabond_ cut all sorts of capers. Barry, who had been asleep on the cabin roof since breakfast, now descended to more comfortable quarters. But even in Bob's lap he didn't seem wholly happy and after a while he jumped down and disappeared into the cabin. Ten minutes later Nelson, who had been below to look at the engine, came back smiling broadly.
”Have we any lemons, Tommy?” he asked.
”Yes,” was the reply. ”In the cupboard. Want one?”
”Not for myself, but Barry needs one.”
”Barry!” exclaimed Bob. ”What's the matter with him?”
”Well, you might just go down and see for yourself,” chuckled Nelson.
”Oh, get out! You can't make me believe that Barry's seasick! Who ever heard of a dog being seasick?”
”Well, you can't get up an argument with me,” laughed Nelson. ”But just the same, I'm glad it's not my berth!”
Then Bob hurried below.
Ten minutes later Bob's blanket was fluttering from the awning rod and Barry, curled up in a patch of sunlight and looking somewhat woe-begone, was striving to forget his recent discomfiture. They were past the point now and Block Island, which was their destination, was looming up clearly across the water some ten miles distant. They reached it at a little after eleven, found anchorage off the village and went ash.o.r.e for what Bob called ”an old-fas.h.i.+oned fish dinner.” Tom said he guessed they'd got it all right, because his fish was just about as old-fas.h.i.+oned as he'd ever found. But the others declared that it was all right and so Tom, declaring feelingly that he didn't want to live without the others, ate his too. Later on Tom declared that he felt very uncomfortable and that he was certain he had ptomaine poisoning. But the others laughed at him and told him that any fellow who had eaten as much as he had ought to expect to feel uncomfortable. At two o'clock they were on their way again and making for New London, a matter of thirty-five miles distant.
CHAPTER XVII-IN WHICH DAN PLAYS A JOKE
Long before sunset the _Vagabond_ was berthed for the night at the end of an otherwise empty pier scarcely a stone's throw from the railroad station at New London.
”I don't know who this wharf belongs to,” said Nelson as he pa.s.sed the bow line up to Dan, ”but there isn't any notice to keep away and so we might as well use it.” ”I think it's an orphan pier,” said Dan as he ran the line through a ring and made it fast. ”Anyhow, that's the way it appears,” he added. Nelson groaned.
”That'll do for you,” he said. ”Leave plenty of slack there to allow for the fall of the tide. If those trains make as much noise to-night as they're making now we'll wish we'd anch.o.r.ed across the river.”
”Yes, I do hope the noise won't keep Tommy awake,” said Dan concernedly.
”I think,” replied Tom, who was trying to make Barry stand on his hind legs and beg for a strip of bark torn from a spiling, ”that it's rather fun seeing trains again. I love engines, anyway. I used to think I'd be an engineer when I grew up.”
”Well, I think you'd make a success on the railroad,” said Bob thoughtfully, ”but not as engineer.”
”What, then?” demanded Tom unsuspiciously.
”Why, you'd make a dandy sleeper, Tommy,” was the reply.
Presently they landed, crossed the railroad tracks, and skirted the little open s.p.a.ce with its monument, erected, as Tom declared, to commemorate the discovery of New London by Thomas Ferris, the famous explorer. And just then they made another discovery. It was the eve of the Fourth of July. That fact was extremely evident. Up and down the street the sound of exploding firecrackers was deafening. Dan started to sing ”The Night before the Fourth,” but Tommy darted into a store and when the others reached him he already had his arms full of crackers and Roman candles. Then they visited other shops and bought all sorts of things from news-papers to canvas shoes. Finally Dan was despatched to the launch with the purchases and the others went on up the hill to the big hotel. When Dan joined them he brought exciting news of a show which was announced for that evening at the local theater and during dinner they unanimously decided to attend.
”You ought to see the posters,” said Dan. ”Oh, great! There's one picture where the hero in a false yellow beard has got into the counterfeiters' den and is holding them all at bay with a pistol in each hand, saying '_The first to move is a dead man!_' Oh, it's swell!”
”What's it called?” asked Tom eagerly.