“Do you read mostly?” asked Aunt Mary.
“It’s best to be on the safe side,” said Clover vaguely.
Then they entered the tangle of docks and express wagons and obstacles in general and Mitchell had great difficulty in finding where his launch had been taken to meet them.
But at last they got Aunt Mary down a flight of very slippery steps and into a boat whose everything was labeled “Lady Belle,” and Mitchell said something and they cast loose and were off.
“Seems rather a small yacht,” said Aunt Mary, glancing cheerfully about. “I ain’t surprised that you’d rather come in nights.”
“Bless your heart, Aunt Mary,” shrieked Jack, “this isn’t the yacht, this is the way we get to her.”
“Oh,” said Aunt Mary blankly.
“That’s the yacht,” yelled Burnett, “that white one with the black smoke coming out and the sail up.”
“What are they getting up steam for?” asked Clover. “The time to get up steam is when you get down sails generally.”
“They aren’t getting up steam,” said Mitchell, “they’re getting up dinner. It looks like a lot of smoke because of the shadow on the sail. And, speaking of getting up dinner, reminds me that the topic before us now is, how in thunder are we to get up Aunt Mary?”