CHAPTER II
Two Offers
"Palaver!" exclaimed Mr. Armitage. "We'll adjourn to the boat-house and go into the matter. Now, then. The first offer is by telegram. Here it is: 'Can you undertake navigation of 50-foot motor-boat from Oxford to Teddington, starting Monday next? Terms fifteen pounds and travelling expenses. Confirming by letter. Murgatroyd.'"
"A trip down the Thames—how jolly!" remarked Reggie Warkworth.
"But it's not a sea-voyage," objected Eric Flemming. "We're Sea Scouts, not canal bargees."
"Fifteen pounds is fifteen pounds," observed Alan Hepburn sententiously. "And we'd be afloat, even if it's only on the Thames."
"What's the other offer, sir?" asked the matter-of-fact Peter Stratton.
In reply Mr. Armitage drew an envelope from his pocket, extracted its contents, and read:
"PENNINGTON HALL,
PARKSTONE, DORSET.
29th July, 19—.
"DEAR SIR,
"With reference to your advertisement, I should be glad to avail myself of your offer. I have recently bought the 35-ton motor-yacht Rosalie, now lying at Great Yarmouth, and wish to have her brought round to Poole Harbour. As I am unable, owing to professional engagements, to sail her round myself, and quotations from agents being prohibitive, the idea of engaging a crew of Sea Scouts rather appeals to me. I, therefore, offer the sum of twenty-five pounds, in addition to travelling expenses and incidental charges, for your services, the boat to be delivered, weather and other circumstances permitting, not later than the 16th August. I might mention that Rosalie is an excellent sea-boat, and has been in Auxiliary Patrol in the North Sea during the late war. If you are agreeable to my terms, will you kindly wire or write by return, and I will forward the necessary documents to obtain the yacht from her late owner.
"Yours truly,
"ANDREW TRELAWNEY."
"Now, boys," said the Scoutmaster, "discuss, as Shakespeare puts it."
He charged and lit his pipe, and listened.
Mr. Armitage was quite content to let his Sea Scouts do the debating, only volunteering a statement when it was asked for, until the time came for him to arrive at a decision upon the matter in hand. It gave the boys confidence in themselves, and, although he was a boy at heart himself, he recognized the advantages of allowing the lads to build their own plans.
"The Yarmouth stunt's the thing!" decided Peter.
"M'yes," remarked Woodleigh dubiously. Never having sailed beyond the shelter of the Isle of Wight, the suddenness of the proposition rather took him aback. "About three hundred miles, isn't it?"
Reference was made to an atlas, in default of a chart covering the "ground".
"Plenty of harbours," reported the Patrol-leader.
"It looks a terrific long way to the North Foreland," observed the cautious Woodleigh, "and the whole of the Thames Estuary seems bunged up with sand-banks."
"That's part of the fun," added Reggie Warkworth. "Not bumping on them, of course, but dodging between them. It's a bit tricky, I admit, but once we're in the English Channel it's as easy as winking."
"How long will it take?" inquired Roche. "The longer the better, as far as I am concerned."
"We ought to make Harwich in one day, Ramsgate the next, then Newhaven and Poole the fifth day," said Stratton, roughly measuring off the distances. "Allowing delays for bad weather, we ought to do it comfortably in the time."
"And the Thames trip?" asked Alan. "Steamers do that in a couple of days, I believe."
"Ever been on the Thames, anyone?" asked the Patrol-leader.
"I have," replied Flemming. "I was only a kid at the time. I went from Charing Cross Pier to Hampton Court. It was jolly fine, I remember."
Alan Hepburn was still pondering over the matter of the fifteen pounds.
"I suppose," he said in a rather slow drawl, "I suppose we couldn't tackle both jobs?"
"What do you mean?" asked Peter Stratton. "Half of us take on the Oxford trip, and the rest sail the Rosalie round?"
"No," replied Alan. "Not exactly. We could take the motor-boat down to Teddington, and then go on to Yarmouth. Two birds with one stone, so to speak. What do you say, sir?"
Mr. Armitage, thus appealed to, "put his spoke in".
"A good suggestion, Hepburn. I had that idea in my mind directly I received Mr. Trelawney's letter. Of course, if we had to choose, bringing round the Rosalie would be preferable. At the same time, although taking a motor-boat—and a pretty big one at that, I should imagine—does not involve any navigation in the strict sense of the word, there would be opportunities for improving our seamanship. I've never taken a craft up or down the Thames, and some of the locks might cause a little excitement, but I see no reason why we shouldn't take on the job."
Armitage knew by this time what his capabilities were in the handling of various craft. During his service career he had taken M.-L.'s in and out of narrow docks, navigated "drifters", towed lighters, been in command of swift motor-boats, and slow and ungainly tugs. To him the task of navigating Mr. Murgatroyd's 50-foot motor-boat was mere child's play, since there was little possibility of coming to grief on the bosom of Old Father Thames.
"Right-o," decided the Scoutmaster. "Warkworth, take these two telegrams to the post office. We'll draft confirmatory letters and get them away by the midday mail."
Accordingly the two offers were accepted, although in his letter to Mr. Murgatroyd the Scoutmaster pointed out that the nature of the task was hardly what he was accustomed to, but there was no apparent reason why the boat should not be safely handed over at Teddington.
The Sea Scouts were in high feather. Every member of the troop except two had succeeded by dint of more or less persuasion in obtaining his parents' consent to adventure himself on the High Seas.
The journey to Oxford was fixed for Saturday, as the following Monday was Bank Holiday, and railway travelling would certainly be a matter of considerable difficulty. It would, Mr. Armitage decided, give the boys a chance to have a good look round the venerable University city.
The eventful morning dawned fair and bright, with every prospect of a prolonged spell of fine weather. At seven the Sea Scouts assembled at their club hut, each with his kit-bag, containing blankets, change of clothing, and toilet requisites, and a haversack with two days' rations. In addition, Stratton carried a First Aid outfit; Roche, as troop photographer, was equipped with a film camera; while the Scoutmaster arrived with his navigating instruments and a bundle of Admiralty and "blue-backed" charts.
"I've just received a letter from Mr. Murgatroyd," reported Mr. Armitage. "He intends to make the trip with us. This is what he says:
"DEAR ARMITAGE,
"The boat-builders suggest that, as the river is in flood owing to the recent rains, we ought to take a pilot. We won't take a pilot; we'll have some fun. Bring a tow-rope, and, if she runs aground, we'll pull her off with it. I hope to join the boat at Oxford at 9 a.m. on Monday, but must be in the city early on Thursday; so, if possible, try and get the boat to Teddington by Wednesday night.
"Yours truly,
"JAMES MURGATROYD."
"I wish he weren't coming," said Flemming bluntly. "It's rotten having a stranger on board."
"He'll be all right, I feel certain," rejoined Patrol-leader Stratton. "By the way he writes he evidently means everybody to have a good time. Besides, it's his boat, and he has a perfect right to be on board."
"Plenty of time to discuss our employer when you see him," observed Patrol-leader Stratton briskly. "Come along; get on with it. There's a lot to be done before we go and precious little time to do it in. Roche, see that all the gear is taken out of the boat. You others carry on and make the hut shipshape. Hepburn, I want you to make sure that the windows are fastened. We don't want our hut pillaged while we are away."
Peter Stratton was a capable patrol-leader. He knew how to handle the troop firmly and judiciously. When he gave an order he invariably saw that it was carried out properly. Mr. Armitage knew the lad's abilities and was content to let a lot of responsibility fall on Stratton's shoulders; while, on the other hand, Peter never hesitated when in doubt to ask the advice of his Scoutmaster.
"Here it comes, sir!" exclaimed Warkworth, who, having completed his allotted task, had gone to the top of the cliff to watch for the motor-bus that was to take the Milford Sea Scouts and their baggage to the railway station.
The door of the hut was closed and locked, the Sea Scouts fell in, each lad shouldering his kit-bag.
"Quick march," came the crisp order, and the patrol made its way up the cliff path on the first stage of its adventures on the river and on the sea.