TOO MUCH JOY
Far out in the pretty bay the _Chelton_ was anchored. It was arranged
that the luncheon should be given too far from land to get anything in
supplies that might have been forgotten. In fact, it was to be a test
meal, such as might be a necessity in case of "shipwreck" or accident.
It was such a day as sometimes makes early Summer copy Spring, when
the mists of morning mingle with the sun's rays, and send up shafts of
haze to pillar the sky from land or water.
There had been great preparations for this salt water lunch. The
girls, enthusiastic over the possibilities, had vied with one another
in arranging the affair.
Dray ran his boat, the _Dixie_, alongside, and together the fleet of
two comprised what the boys termed a "White House Lunch." The cooking
was all done on the _Chelton_ and the eatables were handed over the
brass rail to Lottie and Marita, who served as waitresses on the
_Dixie_. First there were lettuce sandwiches, rolled. Any girl who can
successfully roll bread and lettuce is termed proficient by the
cooking teachers, and it was a tie between Belle and Cora as to who
did the most and best of the rolling.
With the lettuce came the greatest treat to the boys--homemade crab
salad--home caught crabs and handmade dressing thereon.
"I caught the biggest crab," declared Lottie, handing the wooden plate
to Belle. "Isn't that fine!"
"Finest!" she repeated, enthusiastically. "But say! Why don't the boys
catch crabs?"
The boys did not waste time asking questions. Lettuce sandwiches! Crab
salad! They would be serving frappe next!
"Eat plenty of salad," Cora ordered. "We spent all yesterday evening
crabbing."
"Will--we--eat--it?" exclaimed Walter. "I won't dare look at a frying
pan again this week, and my term ends with the week," he said, between
bites.
Next came baked potatoes. These had been done on the electric toaster,
right aboard the _Chelton_, and while scarcely a correct following for
salad, the first was given as an appetizer, and the potatoes as food.
The latter were served on the smallest of wooden plates, with the most
extravagant little butter plates--really sauce or cream "thimbles,"
all fluted and shaped from white paper.
A dozen of these cups had been Belle's contribution to the feast. She
spied them at the news stand, over at the point, and could not leave
them.
Dried beef went with the potatoes, also dill pickles, and while Cora
kept the electric toaster going, and saw to it that the "kitchen" did
not run out of hot water from a reserve tank, the other girls took
turns eating their own lunches. Of course, as the boys were guests, it
was important their wants should be first supplied, a matter not
easily managed, as the girls soon found out.
"More! More!" called Ed, who was eating the browned potato skin, or
bark, with unmistakable relish. "Potatoes are good for the nerves!"
"Robber!" shouted Jack, grabbing a second supply that had just been
adjusted on Ed's plate. "Potatoes are good for the lungs, and I
am--winded."
"I should like just a tiny bit more crab," simpered Dray. "Fish is
good for----"
"We have something more," Cora announced, "don't each too much solid
stuff."
"We couldn't," declared Belle, "not if we kept eating for the rest of
our mortal lives, it wouldn't be too much."
"There are the 'Likes'!" announced Lottie, indicating a canoe gliding
up the bay, in which were two members of the "We-like-it" camp. "Now
we will have to hide things."
"Hide things!" Belle tossed her sweater over her plate as she saw the
canoe. "We are lost!"
"Oh, let us invite them alongside," suggested Lottie, who, up to that
moment had been so busy with setting out plates that she had scarcely
spoken to the visitors. "We have plenty of stuff."
"Nix, nary, not much!" cried Ed, in protest. "That's 'Dainty' there,
the stroke, and if he gets in here he'll eat the dish pan and the
cooker. I say, young ladies should be most careful what sort of
fellows they associate with."
But in spite of this the "Likes" were invited. Possibly they smelled
the eatables, for they came up to the side of the _Chelton_ as nicely
as if they had set out from shore with that intention.
"Thanks," called Dainty, the fat one, "we would be pleased to,"
although no one had asked him to do anything.
"Delighted," affirmed Kent, the other of the party. "We sent our cards
by messenger."
The canoe bobbed up and down, until Cora took an extra rope from the
_Chelton_ and threw it to Dainty, who in turn tied it to a small hook
in the green _Snake_. This served to keep the canoe from capsizing as
Dainty and Kent crept into the _Chelton_.
Just what saved all three boats from being turned upside down in the
racket that followed only Neptune knows, for in their delight at
seeing real food the boys from the "Likes" grew so impetuous that the
"Couldn'ts" felt called upon to interfere.
Crabs, sandwiches, potatoes--each in turn were hailed with gales of
glee, until the girls fell back exhausted with the strain of providing
and cooking.
"Let me, let me," begged Dray, "I know exactly how to handle electric
appliances. I press my neckties--with an electric iron."
He was over into the _Chelton_, and piling more potatoes under the
little tin cover on the toaster, before anyone had time to answer.
"Turned or unturned?" he asked, surveying a smoking potato critically.
"Both or neither," answered the famished Dainty between gasps.
"I'll take my coffee now," announced Jack, sitting back in the
cushions, and flicking an imaginary speck from his sweater.
"Now, you must wait," Cora ordered. "We have not caught up to you yet.
We are only at the entree."
Lottie declared she never had such a splendid time in her life, and
the brightness of her cheeks catching the flame from her eyes bore out
this statement. Marita, too, seemed to have "shook her cocoon," Jack
said, his economy of language scarcely making up for the little
difference in "shook" and "shaken." Certainly she managed to climb
from one boat to another with remarkable alertness, while Bess, Belle
and Cora acted like up-to-date society maidens, only they acted a
little in advance of the "date" usually adhered to.
"And do we have to leave these shores?" wailed Ed, sipping a real good
cup of coffee. "Why not anchor here for now and for eternity!"
"I thought you liked camping," said Belle. "Surely you are not tired
of housekeeping. Doesn't it run smoothly?"
"Sure," replied Ed, "but the grub is the trouble. I wonder why mammas,
with good moral intentions, train little boys to eat?"
"Do you see those clouds," remarked Cora, "they are just swooping down
on us, and we are miles from home. My, but it is going to be a quick
shower!"
The young people had been enjoying themselves so much that not until
Cora spoke did they realize that the sky had become overcast.
"Oh, I'm scared to death," cried Marita. "Those clouds are so
near--you would think they would touch the water!"
"Oh, aren't they black!" gasped Belle.
"Come, get everything under cover," called Jack, thinking first of the
danger to the girls and their boat. "Dray can get his awning up
quickly enough, but this one has not been opened yet."
"You boys just tie your canoe tight to us," Cora said, as the two
visitors were about to climb into their frail skiff. "You would be
washed out during the storm that's coming. Here, Bess, hold this,"
handing Bess one end of the awning tie. "Belle, can you keep that rope
taut?"
It was astonishing how quickly the scene of enjoyment turned to one of
alarm. Those of the girls who were active and eager to assist in
making things safe, did not suffer so much from fright as did they who
took time to watch the clouds. The first severe storm of Summer
usually has a more terrifying effect upon the timid ones than those
that may follow, and this one certainly was a "star" for a starter.
The lightning soon began to flash intermittently and the thunder to
rumble. The clear expanse of horizon afforded such a wide view of the
storm that it was small wonder those out in the bay feared for their
safety.
"Oh!" wailed Marita, as one flash of lightning seemed to dart directly
at the brass rail of Dray's boat. "I thought I was struck!"
Her words had not been uttered before the clap of thunder followed.
This had that queer, deep sound peculiar to the water, and certainly
the heart of the storm seemed to hover over the little fleet.
All over the bay sail boats, canoes, motor boats, row boats and every
sort of craft were making for shore, but in most of these there were
little or no goods that might be damaged by rain or waves, while both
the _Dixie_ and the _Chelton_ would have suffered severely had they
encountered a down-pour uncovered.
The awnings were up at last, and Jack had started the _Chelton_.
Directly after that the chug of the _Dixie_ was heard.
Then it was all storm! Raging! Roaring! Which way could two small
motor boats hope to plough their way in such a fury of wind, rain and
lightning?
The waves had assumed the proportions of billows, and every time a
boat lifted with the crest, a huge bank of water would break over it.
Jack clung to the steering wheel, and Cora never took her eyes off the
engine. But how they whirled and twirled! There was the _Dixie!_ It
was keeping near--one good thing. The canoe had broken loose and was
soon lost to sight. No one bewailed it; there was too serious work at
hand for that.
"Let me look after the gas!" begged Kent of Cora. He was at her elbow,
but she had insisted on personally attending to the machine.
"I know it better, perhaps," she shrieked back, "but stay close. If I
cannot manage I will let you know!"
One terrific clap, then a roar sounded in the ears of all, but seemed
to paralyze Lottie.
She fell in a heap and lay speechless. Up to this time she had been
half sitting in the bottom of the boat.
"She's struck!" shrieked Belle. Then Cora left the engine to Kent and
took charge of the senseless girl.