The Adventure Club Afloat

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER IV

  THE _FOLLOW ME_

  Two days before they had decided that Steve was to be captain, Joe,chief engineer, Phil, first mate, Perry, second mate, Ossie, steward,Neil, cabin boy and Han, crew. Neil and Han had naturally rebelled atbeing left without office or title and the omission had been laughinglyremedied to their entire satisfaction. In fact, Han was quite stuck upover his official position, pointing out that it might be possible for aboat to get along without a captain or mate or even a steward, but thata crew was absolutely essential. He declared his intention of purchasinga yachting cap at the first port of call and having the inscription"Crew" worked on it in gold bullion.

  When the _Adventurer_ left her berth each member of the boat's companywas at his post, or, at least, at what he surmised to be his post.Steve, of course, was at the control, Joe, with the hatches up, waswatching his engine approvingly, Phil, boat-hook in hand, was on theforward deck, Perry hovered around Steve, begging to be allowed to blowthe whistle, Ossie and Neil watched from opposite sides of the bridgedeck and Han, in the role of crew, hitched his trousers at intervals,touched his cap when anyone so much as looked at him and said "Ay, ay,sir!" at the slightest provocation. And with all hands on duty thecruiser pointed her white bow towards The Narrows.

  Steve never took his eyes from the course for more than a moment untilthey had passed Coney Island Light, for there were many craft bustlingor slopping about and it really required some navigation to get throughThe Narrows and past Gravesend Bay without running into something. Perrysuspected that Steve was working the whistle overtime, but realized thattoo many precautions were better than too few. It was Perry's ambitionto learn navigation so that he might ultimately be entrusted with thewheel, and to that end he stood at Steve's elbow until, when they gainedthe Main Channel, Ossie's dulcet voice was heard proclaiming, "Grub,fellows!" from below. Steve was rather too preoccupied to be veryinformative, but Perry did manage to imbibe some information. Forinstance, he learned that a sailing craft had the right of way over apower craft, something he had not known previously, and observed that alarge proportion of them used that right to its limit. He got quiteincensed with a small, blunt-nosed schooner which insisted on crossingthe _Adventurer's_ course just as they were passing Fort Hamilton. Stevehad to slow down rather hurriedly to avoid a collision and Perry viewedthe two occupants of the schooner's deck with a scowl as they lazedacross the cruiser's bows.

  "Cheeky beggars," he muttered.

  He also learned the whistle code that morning: one blast for starboard,two for port, four short blasts for danger and three for going astern.Joe, who had applied oil to every part of the engine that he couldreach, supplied the added information that a sailboat under way on thestarboard tack had the right of way over anything afloat--with thepossible exception of a torpedo!--and that other craft had to turn toport in passing them. Joe had wrested that bit of knowledge from avolume entitled, "Motor Boats and Boating," which he carried in a sidepocket every minute of the trip, and passed it on with evident pride.For the next few days he discovered other interesting items in thatprecious book and divulged them at intervals with what to Perry seemeda most offensive assumption of superiority.

  "You just read that in your old book," Perry would grumble. "Anybodycould do that!" Nevertheless, he hearkened and remembered against thetime when the conduct of the boat should be handed over to the hands ofthe efficient second mate. When Joe became insufferably informativePerry blandly asked him questions about the engine, such as, "What's thedifference, Joe, between a two-cycle and a four-cycle motor?" or "Whathappens when the water-jacket becomes unbuttoned?" and was delighted tofind that Joe lapsed into silence until he had had time tosurreptitiously consult his book.

  Today, however, Joe's ignorance of motors mattered not at all, for theengine ran sweetly and the _Adventurer_ churned through the green waterwithout a falter. More than once Joe might have been observed gazingdown at the six cylinder-heads surmounted by their maze of wires with anexpression of awe. Joe's thoughts probably might have been put intowords thus: "Yes, I see you doing it, but--but _why?_"

  Steve didn't go down to the cabin for dinner, but ate it as best hecould on the bridge. Neil, in his capacity of cabin-boy, arranged afolding stool beside him, and from that, at intervals between moving thewheel, blowing the whistle or anxiously scanning the course, Steveseized his food. The others descended to the main cabin and squeezedthemselves about the table, which, adorned with a cloth of wonderfulsheen and whiteness that bore the cruiser's former name and flag wovenin the centre, held a plentiful supply of canned beans, fried bacon,potato chips, bread and butter and raspberry jam. Everything wasthrillingly fine, from the pure linen tablecloth and napkins to thesilverware. The plates held the same design that was worked into thenapery, as did even the knives and forks and spoons. Ossie wasapologetic as to the menu, although he need not have been.

  "There wasn't time to do much cooking," he said, "and, besides, Ihaven't got the hang of things yet. I never tried to do anything on analcohol stove before. It takes longer, seems to me. I couldn't get theoven heated until about five minutes ago, and so if those potato-chipsaren't very warm--"

  "I'm warm enough, if they aren't," said Neil. "How do you open theselittle round window things?"

  "Turn the thumb-screws," advised Han. "I think everything's bully, andI'm as hungry as a bear. Pass the beans, Perry. Got any more tea outthere, cook?"

  "Yes, but I'm steward and not cook," replied Ossie, arising from hiscamp-stool and stepping into the galley. "Hand over the bread plate,someone, and I'll cut some more. Bet you it's going to cost us somethingfor grub, fellows!"

  "Well," responded Han, "I'd rather go broke that way than some others.What kind of tea is this, Ossie?"

  "Ceylon. Doesn't it suit you?"

  "Oh, I can worry it down, thanks. Sugar, please, Phil. I generally drinkorange pekoe, though. You might lay in a few pounds of it at the nextstop."

  "I might," said Ossie, resuming his place at the end of the board, "andthen again I might not. And the probabilities are not. If you don't wantall the potatoes, Joe, you may shove them along this way."

  The repast was frequently interrupted by the shrill blast of thewhistle, and whenever that sounded most of the diners scrambled up topeer interestedly through the ports. In fact, so loth were they to missanything that might be happening that they finished dinner in recordtime, consuming dessert, which consisted of bananas and pears, outside.Ossie alone remained below, and from the galley came the clatter ofdishes and a cheerful tune as the steward cleared away and washed up.Joe smiled at Phil.

  "Ossie's having the time of his life now," he said, "but wait until thenovelty wears off. Then we'll hear some tall kicking about thedishwashing, or I miss my guess."

  "We'll have to take turns helping him at that," said Steve. "If we don'the's likely to mutiny. There's Coney over there, fellows."

  The others gathered on the port side to gaze across the water at thecrowded beach and the colourful maze of buildings. "It looks jolly,doesn't it?" asked Han. "Couldn't we run in closer, Steve?"

  "We could, but it would take us out of our course. I'm heading forRockaway Point over there. We've got a good ways to go yet before wereach Fire Island." Steve had the chart opened before him and he laid afinger on the point mentioned.

  "Looks like it would be more fun to duck in there," said Neil, vaguelyindicating the neighbourhood of Hempstead Bay.

  "Maybe it would," answered the Captain, "but there are too many islandsand things to suit me. I'd rather stay outside here and slip in throughFire Island Inlet. After I get used to running this hooker I'll take heranywhere there's a heavy dew, but right now I'm all for the open sea,Neil."

  Phil and Han, who had never before gazed on the marvels of Coney Island,even from a distance, were listening to Joe's tales of the delights ofthat entrancing resort and following his finger as he pointed out thefeatures he recognised. "There's the coaster where I bounced up and camedown on a nail,
" he chuckled. "It was a fine, able-bodied nail, too, andI--um--had to stay on it all the rest of the trip because the car was socrowded there wasn't room to shift."

  "Smell the peanuts, fellows," murmured Perry dreamily. "Gee, I wish Ihad some!"

  Ossie appeared on deck ten minutes later and was very indignant becausehe had not been informed that they were passing Coney. "I think some ofyou lobsters might have sung out," he mourned. "I've never seen ConeyIsland."

  "Well, have a look," laughed Han. "That's it back there."

  "Huh! Can't see anything at this distance," growled Ossie. "It's just asmear of buildings. What's the place ahead there!"

  "Rockaway," answered Joe, "and that's Jamaica Bay in there. Say, there'ssome sea on, isn't there?"

  In fact the _Adventurer_ was now doing a good deal of plunging as shemade her way through the long swells that swept around the sandy point.And she wasn't satisfied with merely kicking her head and heels up,either, for with the forward and aft motion there was considerablerocking, and as the point came abreast a shower of spray deluged theforward deck and spattered in on the bridge. At Steve's direction thewindows were closed, Han performing the task with many "Ay, ay, sirs!"Joe looked anxious and presently sought the forward cabin, reappearing aminute later to ask all and sundry if they knew where he had put hissupply of "anti-seasick stuff." No one could tell him and he again tookhimself off, and before he could locate the medicine the _Adventurer_had passed the inlet and had settled down on an even keel again. Han andOssie spread themselves out on the forward cabin roof and the othersmade themselves comfortable on the seats of the bridge deck, Philpointing out seriously and with evident satisfaction that the cushionswere not only cushions but life-preservers as well. Perry was forborrowing Phil's fountain-pen and putting his name on one.

  There was no longer any talk of being too warm, for the breeze wasstraight from the southeast and soon sent them, one after another, intothe cabins for their sweaters. They passed Rockaway Beach a good threemiles to port and by half-past one were off Point Lookout. Every instantheld interest, for many pleasure boats were out and their white sailsgleamed in the crisp sunlight. Three porpoise appeared off Short Beachand proved very companionable, for they stayed with the _Adventurer_ forquite ten minutes. One placed himself directly in front of the boat andthe others took up positions about six feet apart on the starboard bow,and for two miles or more they maintained their stations, their dusky,gleaming backs arching from the water with the regularity of clock-work.Most of the boys had never seen the fish before and were muchinterested. Joe called them "puffing pigs" and Perry insisted that theywere dolphins, and a fervid argument followed. They finally agreed, atPhil's suggestion, to compromise and call them "porphins." Possibly thediscussion bored the subjects, or maybe they were insulted by the titleapplied to them, for about the time Joe and Perry reached an agreementthe porpoise disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived on the sceneand it was minutes later before the puzzled mariners descried themheading shoreward some distance away.

  They missed Ossie after that and when he was found he was stretched outon a seat in the main cabin sound asleep and snoring. Neil came backwith the news that one of the "puffing pigs" had flopped aboard and wasasleep below. Steve took advantage of plain sailing to instruct Joe,Phil and Perry in the handling of the wheel and controls, and each ofthe pupils took his turn at guiding the cruiser along the sandy coast.Fire Island Inlet was reached shortly before three and Steve took thewheel again and ran the _Adventurer_ past Jack's Island, around thecurve of Short Beach and into the waters of the Great South Bay. Therewas still a six-mile run to their anchorage, however, and it was nearlyfour when the cruiser at last crept in among the clustered craft off BayShore and dropped her anchor. A hundred yards away a cluster of boys onthe deck of a sturdy cabin-cruiser swung their caps and sent a hailacross. Steve seized the megaphone from its rack and answered.

  "_Follow Me_, ahoy!" he shouted.

  "Ahoy yourself!" was the ribald reply. "We're coming over!"

  The crew of the _Follow Me_ tumbled into a tiny dingey, cast off andwere lost to sight beyond the intervening craft. Then they reappeared,their small boat so deep that the water almost spilled over the sides,Wink Wheeler struggling with a pair of ludicrously short oars and theother five laughingly urging him on.

  "Throw a couple of fenders over, Han," instructed Steve, "and stand bywith your boat-hook."

  The _Follow Me's_ tender crept alongside amidst noisy greetings, Perryperforming excruciatingly on the whistle until pulled away, and inanother moment the visitors were aboard. They were a nice-looking,upstanding lot, already well sunburned by a week afloat. Wink Wheelerwas the oldest of the six, for he was eighteen. Harry Corwin, Bert Alleyand Caspar Temple were seventeen and George Browne, or "Brownie," as hewas called, and Tom Corwin were sixteen. First of all they had to seethe boat and so the whole gathering trooped from one end to the other,exclaiming and admiring.

  "The _Follow Me_'s a regular tub compared with this palace," said HarryCorwin. "Why, there isn't anything finer than this along the SouthShore, I guess!"

  "Don't you call our boat names," protested "Brownie." "The _Follow Me_may not be as nifty as this, but she's one fine little boat, just thesame. How long did it take you to come from New York, Joe?"

  "Nearly four hours and a half, but we ran slow. I guess we could havedone it in three hours easily if we'd tried to. This boat can do twentyat a pinch. How fast is the _Follow Me?_"

  "She's done eighteen," answered Harry Corwin, "but fourteen's heraverage gait. She burns up gas like the dickens when she does any more.Yesterday we went to Freeport in fifty-seven minutes, and that's a goodseventeen and a half miles. She had to hump herself, though."

  After the wonders of the _Adventurer_ had been exhausted the boysgathered on the bridge deck and Steve laid a chart on the floor and theydiscussed their plans. It had already been decided that they shouldcruise northward as far as Maine. As there was no hurry in gettingthere, they were to take things easy, stopping at such points aspromised interest and putting into harbour at night. As it was alreadyafter four o'clock, they finally concluded to stay where they were untilmorning, although the _Follow Me_ crowd were eager to be away. "Ourfirst harbour would be Ponquogue," said Steve, "and that's a goodforty-six or-seven mile run. Personally, I don't care much about messingaround outside after dark. This is all new water to me. If we start inthe morning we'll have plenty of time to run as far as Shelter Island,if we want to."

  This was agreed to, although Perry protested that as the charts showed alife-saving station every five miles or so all down the shore it was ashame not to take a chance. "I've always wanted to be taken off asinking ship in a breeches-buoy," he said.

  "Would you mind being wrecked in the daytime?" asked Neil. "I'd love tosee you in a breeches-buoy, Perry, and I couldn't if it was dark."

  "Let's all go up to the hotel for dinner," suggested Wink Wheeler. "Theyhave dandy feeds there, and maybe we can scare up some fun. Any of youfellows like to bowl?"

  "First of all," said Han, "we want to see your boat, fellows. Let's goover now. I'm ready for hotel grub if the rest of you are. Can we allgo, Steve, or does someone have to stay behind and look after theboat?"

  "That's the crew's duty," said Phil gravely. "We'll bring you back asandwich, Han."

  "Yes, a Han-sandwich," added Perry.

  When he had been toppled backward down the after cabin steps HarryCorwin said that they'd been in the habit of leaving the _Follow Me_unguarded for hours at a time and that so far no one had molested her,and Steve decided that it would be safe enough if they locked thecabins. So presently the _Adventurer's_ tender was lifted off the chocksand put overboard and after hasty toilets the boys piled into it and thetwo dingeys, each loaded to the limit, set off for the _Follow Me_. Thelatter was a thirty-four foot craft, with a hunting cabin that reachedalmost to the stern, leaving a cockpit scarcely large enough to swing acat in; although, as Perry remarked, it wasn't likely anyone would
wantto swing a cat there. The cabin was surprisingly roomy and held fourberths, while a fifth bunk was placed forward of the tiny galley. Thelatter was intended for the crew but at present it was the quarters of"Brownie." The sixth member of the ship's company occupied at night amattress placed on the floor and philosophically explained thatsleeping there had the advantage of security; there was no chance toroll out of bed in rough weather. The engine compartment lay betweencabin and cockpit and held a six-cylinder engine. Steering was done fromthe cockpit, under shelter of an awning, but the engine control wasbelow. The _Follow Me_ was four years old and had seen much service, butshe had been newly painted, varnished and overhauled and looked like athoroughly comfortable and seaworthy boat. She was copper painted belowthe water-line and black above, with a gilt line and her name in gilt onbows and stern. Compared to the _Adventurer_ she was a modest enoughcraft, but her six mariners asked nothing better and secretly believedthat in rough weather she would put the bigger boat to shame. CaptainCorwin levied on the slender supply of ginger-ale and sarsaparillacontained in the tiny ice-chest and after that they again set forth,this time for the nearest landing.

  They "did" the town exhaustively and at six-thirty descended on thehotel thirteen strong and demanded to be placed together at one table.It is doubtful if the hotel management made much money on the thirteendinners served to the boys, for everyone of them ate as though he hadn'tseen food for days. Somewhere around eight or half-past they draggedthemselves back to the boats and paddled out to the _Adventurer_, where,since the evening was decidedly chilly, they thronged the after cabinand flowed out into the cockpit. Perry started up his talking machineand played his dozen records over a number of times, and everyone talkedat once--except some who sang--and, in the words of the countrynewspapers, "a pleasant time was had by all." And at ten the _FollowMe's_ crew got back into their dingey and went off into the darkness ofa starlight night, rather noisy still in a sleepy way, and, presumably,reached their destination. At least, no more was heard of them thatnight. On the _Adventurer_ berths were pulled out or let down and aquarter of an hour after the departure of the visitors not a sound wasto be heard save the lapping of the water against the hull and thepeaceful breathing of seven healthily tired boys.