“Not a cent. I tell you I’ll use you boys in more ways than one. Dusting the coal is only a small matter. There is the smoke stack to be scrubbed, the dishes to be hand painted and the windows to be taken out and put in again.”
“Do you mean it?” asked Fenn. “I mean, do you really want us on this trip, Captain Wiggs?”
“Of course I do. I sail in three days, to be gone a month or more. If you boys want to have a good vacation come along. Get the permission of your folks and let me know to-night.”
“I will!” exclaimed Fenn, his brain whirling with the suddenness of it all. “I’ll tell the other boys right away,” and, not even pausing to thank the captain for the lemonade, he hurried up the companion ladder, out on the deck of the Modoc and, jumping to the dock, ran up the street as fast as he could go.
CHAPTER VI
IN PERIL
“Here’s the stuff from the store, mom!” exclaimed Fenn, as he rushed into the house.
“What’s the matter?” asked his mother anxiously. “Has there been an accident, Fenn?”