Chapter IX.
“Three Wise Men Went to Sea in a Bowl.”
A few days later the boys gathered together and strolled down to the beach, hoping something there would turn up to amuse them.
Two or three schooners and a steamboat were moored at the wharf; but to-day they excited only a languid interest in the boys.
“If we could only go out on the lake,” Will murmured, “it would be fun.”
“Why, where should we go?” inquired one.
“Oh, just out on the lake for a mile or so; or perhaps we might round the point and have a swim in our swimming-place.”
“Well, then,” said Jim, always with an eye to safety and comfort, “why not get out your father’s boat? Wouldn’t it float us all? And it’s so safe!”
“Yes,” said Will, “it’s pretty safe—very safe in the boat-house. And the key of the boat-house is safer still, at home! That’s the way it goes, boys; and when I want a boat ride, I generally struggle around the best I can. It isn’t worth while to trudge home for it; because, most likely, we should find something else to do when we got there. But I think we can light on a craft of some sort if we scratch around a little.”
Although Will’s father owned a boat, the key of his boat-house was always kept at home; and poor Will was about as much benefited as are most boys whose fathers own boats, and ponies, and carriages.