“I thought you were going to Bayville to see Mr. Hayward, and—er—Miss Ruth,” went on Bart. “Especially Ruth.”
“Well, I may yet,” replied Fenn. “Bayville isn’t so far from here. In fact it’s within a short distance of where we anchored in that bay.”
“How do you know?”
“I asked the captain,” replied Fenn. “I was thinking of taking a boat and rowing there, if we’d stayed long enough.”
“But how do you figure on getting there now?” asked Ned.
“I’m coming back, after we get to Duluth,” was the answer. “Captain Wiggs has got to remain there for some time, and I don’t see what there is to keep us. It’s a city, and we’ve had enough of city life for a while. I was going to propose that, after we’d been there a couple of days, we go off on a little side trip, coming back in time to go home on the Modoc.”
“Good idea!” exclaimed Bart. “We could go on a little camping expedition.”
“That was my idea,” added Fenn. “We’ve got enough money with us to hire a tent and a small outfit, all we’ll need for a week or so. We’ve been camping in the woods before, and we know how to take care of ourselves. This cruising business is fine, but it’s too lazy a life to suit me.”
“No, I s’pose we haven’t had any excitement since we started,” commented Frank sarcastically. “There was the elevator fire, those men chasing us; Ned nearly being pulled overboard with a fish; getting caught in the lock; the steamer on fire and the queer men on the cliff. Oh, yes, we’ve lived a very quiet and sedate life since we left home, Oh, yes, exceedingly quiet.”
“Well, I mean—Oh, you know what I mean,” said Fenn. “We need more action—the kind we’ll get if we go off on a trip by ourselves.”