“No, I’m doing this for amusement,” replied Bob, taking his injured thumb from his mouth and gazing critically at the wounded member. “Um, it’s going to swell,” he added.
“Put cold water on it,” Jerry advised. “That’s a good thing. Then wrap it up in arnica.”
“Come on into the house,” Bob mumbled. “You can tell me the news there, while I’m doctoring up.”
“What news?” asked Jerry.
“Why there must be something in the wind when you come around this way, singing sea songs and walking like a sailor on a pitching deck.”
“Oh, yes, of course there’s some news,” Jerry went on. “I forgot about it in the excitement of seeing you do that war dance. Well, it’s just as I was singing. It’s going to be a life on the ocean wave for me this summer vacation.”
“How’s that?”
“Mother is going to take a cottage on the Atlantic coast. Maybe I’ll not have swell times! I’m going in bathing every day, and I can learn all about a sail boat.”
Bob had been so busy looking for the arnica bottle, and a rag in which to wrap his thumb, that he paid little attention to what Jerry was saying, save in a vague sort of way. He caught the last reference to a boat, however, and asked: