They were very busy that afternoon. Armed with a list of necessary
supplies, they stormed one of the big grocery stores, and a smaller but
very interesting emporium where everything from a sail needle to a
half-ton anchor was to be found.
Bob listened to the order at the grocery with misgivings. "I don't for
the life of me see where we're going to stow all that truck, Nelson," he
said.
"Oh, there's more room on the _Vagabond_ than you think," was the
cheerful response.
"And he's not referring to Tommy, either," added Dan.
"You fellows are having lots of fun with me, aren't you, this trip?"
asked Tom, mildly aggrieved.
"And the trip hasn't really begun yet," laughed Nelson. "Don't you care,
Tommy, you're all right. Let's see, did we have pepper down? Yep. Well,
I guess that's all, isn't it?"
"How about oil?" asked Tom.
"Oil? Do we need it? Look here, you don't think you're going to feed us
on salad, do you?"
"If it's seaweed salad, I pass," said Bob.
"No," answered Tom, "but I thought you always carried oil in case of a
storm; to pour on the water, you know."
"Oh, we use gasoline for that," explained Nelson gravely. "Come on and
let's find the other joint."
Their way lay through a number of extremely narrow and very crooked
streets--only Dan contemptuously called them alleys--and because of the
crowds it was usually necessary to proceed in single file. First there
was Nelson as guide; then came Bob; then trotted Barry; at the other end
of his leash was Dan; and Tom jogged along in the rear.
"Thunder!" exclaimed Bob at last. "The chap who laid out this town must
have been crazy! I'll bet you anything, fellows, this is the same lane
we were on five minutes ago. Look here, Nelson, are you plumb certain
you're not lost?"
"Yes," answered the other.
"Well, I'm not," growled Dan. "I'm lost as anything. I don't know
whether I'm coming or going. I'd just like to----"
But at that moment a dray horse tried to walk up his back, and Dan's
remarks were cut short. When he had reached the other side of the street
in safety he half turned his head and addressed himself to Tommy.
"Did you see that blamed horse?" he asked indignantly. "He deliberately
tried to walk through me. Guess he mistook me for one of those short
cuts that Nelson is always talking about. I've a good mind to go back
and have him arrested."
As there was no reply, Dan turned and looked back. Then:
"Whoa! Back up!" he shouted. "We've lost Tommy!"
Consternation reigned.
"When did you see him last?" asked Nelson anxiously.
"About five minutes ago, I guess," said Dan. "It was when we were coming
through that three-inch boulevard back there. Poor Tommy!" he said
sorrowfully. "We'll never see him again."
"I guess we'd better go back and look for him," said Nelson.
"Have you any idea you know how we came?" asked Dan incredulously.
"If we don't find him, he'll make his way home, I guess," said Bob.
"I'll bet I can tell you what's happened to him," said Dan.
"What?"
"He's got stuck fast in one of these narrow streets, of course. I only
hope they won't have to tear down a building or two to get him loose."
"Oh, they'll probably let him stay there until he is starved thin,"
laughed Nelson.
"That's so. And build a flight of steps over him. Bet you a dollar,
though, that when they do pry him loose, they'll arrest him for stopping
the traffic!"
"Well, come on," said Nelson. "We'll see if we can find him."
So they turned and retraced their steps, although Dan affirmed
positively that they had never come that way.
"The sensible thing to have done," he grumbled, "was to have stayed just
where we were and waited for the streets to come around to us. Then,
when one went by with Tommy on the sidewalk, we could have just reached
out and plucked him off."
But no one heard him save a newsboy, who thought he was asking for an
afternoon paper.
After five minutes on the "back trail," they concluded to give it up,
agreeing that Tom had probably wandered into one of the side streets,
and that he would undoubtedly find some one to direct him to Nelson's
house. So they started again for the yacht-supply store, Dan pretending
to be terribly worried.
"Who's going to break the news to his parents?" he asked lugubriously.
But by the time they were in sight of their destination he had acquired
a more cheerful frame of mind. "Of course," he confided to Nelson--the
sidewalk here was wide enough to allow them to walk two abreast--"of
course, I'm sorry to lose Tommy, but it's well to look on the bright
side of things. You see, Bob will have to be cook now, and you know he's
a heap better cook than Tommy ever was or ever would have been. Oh, yes,
every cloud has a silver lining!" In the store he insisted on buying a
dory compass for his own use. "You see, Bob, I might get lost myself on
the way back," he explained. Bob, however, convinced him that what he
wanted was a chart.
Their purchases here were not many but bulky, and so they decided to
call a hack. When it came, they climbed into it and surrounded
themselves with bundles of rope, fenders, lubricating oil in gallon
cans, and assorted tools and hardware. It was getting toward five
o'clock by this time, and they decided to go to the boat yard, put the
things on board, and leave the arranging of them until the morning. They
dismissed the carriage at the entrance to the wharf and took up their
burdens again. Dan, hurried along by the impatient Barry, was the first
to reach the edge of the wharf, and----
"Well, I'll be blowed!" he cried.
Bob and Nelson hurried to his side. There, lolling comfortably in the
cockpit seat of the _Vagabond_ and eating caramels, was Tom!
"You're a nice one!" said Nelson indignantly. "We thought you were
lost!"
"So I was," answered Tom calmly. "Quite lost. So I hired a hansom and
came here."
"Well, you've got a great head, Tommy," said Dan admiringly. "Give you
my word, I'd never have thought to do that! I'd have just roamed about
and roamed about until overcome by weariness and hunger. What you
eating, you pig?"
"Caramels. I stopped to buy them at a store, and when I came out, you
fellows were gone and some one had turned the streets around."
"And there we were searching for you for hours, worried half crazy,"
said Dan. "Stand up there and catch these bundles, you loafer!"
They went home in the elevated and finished Tom's caramels on the way.
After dinner they got their baggage ready to send to the launch in the
morning, studied the charts for the twentieth time, and listened to
final directions and cautions from Mr. Tilford.
Nelson's father was a tall and rather severe-looking man of about fifty,
and at first the three visitors had been very much in awe of him. But
they had speedily discovered that his severity was, to use Dan's
expression, "only shin deep," and that in reality he was a very jolly
sort in a quiet way. And as they entertained an immense respect for him,
they listened very attentively to what he had to say that evening in the
library.
"Now there's just one way in which you boys are going to be able to keep
out of trouble," said Mr. Tilford, "and that's by using sound common
sense. The _Vagabond_ isn't an ocean liner, and you mustn't think you
can take deep-sea voyages in her. I want you to be in port every evening
before dark. I don't care how early you set out in the morning, but I
want you to find your mooring or your anchorage by supper-time. If you
take my advice, you'll have at least one square meal every day on shore.
You can't do much cooking on the launch, even if you know how, and to
keep well and happy you've got to be well fed on good food.
"I naturally feel a bit anxious about this trip, boys. You've all
received permission from your parents to take it, but it's my boat and I
don't want anything to happen to you while you're on it. You're all of
you getting old enough to look after yourselves pretty well, but I don't
know whether you can all do it. My first idea," he went on, turning to
Bob, "was to send a man along with you. But Nelson didn't like that, and
I realized that it would just about cut your fun in half. So I let him
back me down on that proposition. Now it's up to you to prove that I
haven't made a mistake. Nelson knows that engine about as well as I do,
and I don't think there'll be any trouble to speak of there. Don't be
sparing of oil, Nelson; half the gas-engine troubles originate with the
lubrication. Oil's cheap and repairs are dear; remember that. And don't
be afraid to throw your anchor out. It's better to ride out a blow in a
stanch boat like the _Vagabond_ than to try to make some port that you
don't know anything about.
"I want to get word from you at least every other day, too; oftener, if
you can make it. Just a line will do, so that your mother and I won't
worry. Watch your barometer and the weather flags, and when in doubt hug
the harbor. Now, how are you off for money?"
Whereupon the session resolved into a meeting of the Committee on Ways
and Means.
The next morning the luggage was dispatched to the wharf, and, after a
hurried breakfast had been eaten and they had bade good-by to Nelson's
mother, the four followed. The provisions were there before them, and
for an hour they were busy stowing things away. It was wonderful what a
lot of supplies and clothing and personal belongings it was possible to
pile away in that little cabin. The cushions, mattresses, and awning
were brought aboard, and the cockpit was supplied with two of the wicker
chairs belonging there. The side lights and riding light were filled,
trimmed, and put in place, the searchlight tank recharged, and the ice
box filled. Everybody was intensely busy and excited, and Barry was all
over the boat and under everyone's feet. Mr. Tilford hurried over from
his office at ten o'clock, looked things over anxiously and hurried off
again to attend a meeting at eleven, shaking hands all around and
wishing them good luck. Then the launch was hauled around to the head of
the wharf to have her gasoline and water tanks filled.
By that time Nelson had invaded the flag locker, and the _Vagabond_ was
in holiday trim fore and aft. From the bow fluttered the pennant of the
Boston Yacht Club and, beneath it, the owner's burgee, an inverted
anchor in white, forming the letter T, on a divided field of red and
blue. Over the stern hung the yachting ensign. Their personal effects
were disposed of in the stateroom; underclothing and such apparel in the
chiffonier, toilet articles in the lavatory, sweaters and oilskins on
the hooks, and shoes in the berth lockers. Tom, to whom had fallen the
distribution of the provisions, had completed his task, and the ice box
and shelves above were full. Doubtless they had taken aboard a great
deal more than they would stand in need of, but that is an error that
most inexperienced mariners commit. Save for such things as eggs and
butter and bread, their provisions were mostly canned or preserved. At
eleven Nelson busied himself with the engine, filling his oil cans and
cups, cleaning and polishing. The batteries were brand new and so was
the wiring, and when he tried the spark he smiled his satisfaction.
"Fat and purple," he muttered.
"Who is?" asked Tom resentfully as he slammed down the lid of the ice
box.
"The spark, Tommy, my boy," was the reply. "I was not referring to you;
you're not purple, are you?"
"No, nor fat, either. Say, what's this? I thought it was something to
eat at first."
"That," answered Nelson, "is something you'll become better acquainted
with to-morrow, Tommy. That is a nice quart can of metal polish."
"Huh! I'd like to know what I've got to do with it!"
"Oh, the cook always shines the bright-work."
"Now, look here----"
"Careful," warned Nelson, "or we'll put you in irons for mutiny."
"Guess the iron wouldn't be any worse than the brass," said Tom with a
grin.
At half-past eleven all was in readiness. One of the yard hands threw
off the mooring rope and Bob took the wheel. Dan and Tom stood at the
engine-room door and watched Nelson as he turned on the gasoline, looked
to his vaporizer valve, and closed his battery switch.
"All clear?" he shouted.
"All clear!" answered Bob.
Nelson opened the valve at the vaporizer and turned over the fly wheel.
The engine hummed, and from without came the steady _chug-chug,
chug-chug_ of the exhaust. Then, with Nelson at the lever and moving at
half speed, the launch pointed her nose toward the outer harbor. The
cruise of the _Vagabond_ had begun.