“Now, I’ll make you boys and girls an offer,” pursued Mr. Lavine, more earnestly. “You’ll hunt in packs, anyway–the boys together and the girls together. If the girls find the sunken boat I’ll present them with a motor boat as good as the Happy Day; and if the boys have the luck, then the boat shall belong to the Busters. What say?”
“We say ‘Thanks!’” cried Dave, instantly.
“We think it is very handsome of you, sir,” declared Wyn, coming over to the gentleman and taking his hand. “And I know why you do it, sir–so I thank you twice. If poor Mr. Jarley could be absolved of Dr. Shelton’s accusation, it would help a whole lot.”
“Humph!” muttered Mr. Lavine, “I heard Shelton going on about Jarley myself to-day, and it made me ashamed–I’m free to own it. I never did think John as bad as all that!”
“It sounds different when you hear somebody else say it,” whispered Dave in Wynifred’s ear.
Mr. Lavine’s proposal, however, met with enthusiastic favor on the part of both clubs. A motor boat would be just the finest thing to own! Both boys and girls determined to find the lost Bright Eyes before the season was out.
CHAPTER XXI
THE WAY OF THE WIND
“Did you know,” said Professor Skillings, visiting Camp Green Knoll with the Busters several days later, “that there are several thousand Poles in the Wintinooski Valley?”
“You surprise me,” remarked Mrs. Havel.