“You there, with the canoe!” he hailed. “What’s your name?”
“He’s Van Horn, the Prince of Whales!” put in Brick. “Old Sink-Easy, the boy sailor—that’s him!”
“Well, Van Horn,” said Wally, looking down at the sodden, crestfallen figure, “stop trying to pull off that canoe’s bottom by dragging it on those rocks, and listen to me. I could see in a minute that you don’t know the first thing about a canoe. Where did it come from, anyway?”
“It’s mine,” stammered Dirk. “My father gave it to me.”
“H’mm. Well, before you can go out paddling in it, you’ll have to learn how to treat it. And you’ll have to learn how to step into it without sinking the poor thing. In the first place, you ought to know that this is no time for campers to go boating—when squad-duty period is over, and you have reported to whoever is in charge here at the dock, you might be given permission to go out. In the second place, no boy is allowed to take out a canoe unless he has passed his swimming and boat tests. You haven’t done that, I know.”
“Well, you see, sir, I just wanted to try the canoe and see how it looked in the water——”
Wally shook his head impatiently. “Look here, Van Horn—can you swim?”
“Why, no, sir. That is, only a little——”
“Whew! This beats me!” The councilor scratched his head, and turned to the other boys. “Isn’t there anybody here who has any sense? Here a new boy comes down without a leader, and without knowing how to swim, puts a canoe in the water and sinks it under him! Suppose you had launched it from the end of the dock, Van Horn, where the deep water is—what would you have done if you had gone over then? That’s the reason we have canoe tests—so a boy won’t go out unless he can take care of himself in the water, no matter what happens. Now, lift that canoe on the dock, drain the water out, and leave it to dry. Then get back to your work. When we have swimming instruction tomorrow morning, come down and I’ll try to show you how to swim. It will be several days before you know enough even to take out a rowboat; but if you work hard, maybe I can teach you how to take care of yourself and your canoe. That’s all.” He turned on his heel and went back to his work.
Sheepishly, Dirk obeyed, and with the help of his grinning comrades, drew the canoe on the dock and tilted it so that it would drain. Then Dirk once more waded about, rescuing the drifting paddles he had lost. At last, dripping and downcast, he joined the others. Brick looked at him with a wry grin.