“We’ll, you know Mr. Harvey told us it could make twenty-five miles an hour, and that’s fast enough to beat anything but a racer,” said Herb.
By this time they had reached the mouth of the creek, and the whole expanse of the big bay opened out in front of them. There was just enough breeze to ruffle the surface of the water, upon which the sun played in a million points of flashing light. The cool, exhilarating salt wind filled their lungs, and they shouted and sang with the pure joy of living.
“A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep!” chanted Jimmy. “Whoever wrote that song knew what he was talking about.”
“He’d probably never have written it if he had known you were going to sing it,” said Joe.
“You mind your own business and steer the boat,” retorted Jimmy. “I’ve got lots of courage to sing at all with you steering us. You’ll likely run us onto a rock or a sandbar before we fairly get started.”
“Leave that to me,” said Joe. “The nearest sandbar is about half a mile away now—straight down.”
“Well, that isn’t any too far for safety when you’re the pilot,” said Jimmy. “Anyway, I’m going up on top of that cabin and have a sun bath. Please don’t wreck us until I have a chance to rest up a little, will you? It looks like a long swim to shore.”
“Go ahead then, you blooming landlubber,” grinned Joe. “Leave the running of the ship to a real salty old mariner like me.”
With a grunt that might mean anything, Jimmy clambered up on the low cabin, and in a few minutes, lulled by the gentle motion of the boat, was sound asleep. Herb propped himself comfortably against the side of the cabin and gazed dreamily out over the bright expanse of the bay. Bob opened the throttle a little, and the boat picked up speed, her sharp bows cutting through the water in fine style, with a slow rise and fall as they went further from shore and began to feel the ocean swell. White clouds flecked the deep blue sky, and sea gulls wheeled and soared overhead, calling to one another and ever and anon swooping swiftly downward to seize some unfortunate fish that had ventured too near the surface.
The splash and gurgle of the water alongside was beginning to make the boys feel drowsy when they suddenly noticed another boat ahead of them. This craft was holding a course diagonal to their own, so that the two boats were drawing slowly together, although at present they were perhaps a mile apart.