“Let me see it,” said Rose, and she looked at the envelope.
“It’s for you, Jerry,” she declared, “and it’s from some railroad company. It’s been sent on here from Cresville.”
“Maybe it’s about damages to our boat,” said Bob.
And so it proved. The letter announced that an investigation had been made of the wreck in which the Dartaway was smashed, that the claim department of the Florida Coast Railway Company admitted their liability, and were prepared to pay damages. They enclosed in the letter a check for the value of the boat, as declared by Jerry at the time of the shipment.
“Hurrah!” cried Ned. “That’s the stuff!”
“Well, it’s the end of the Dartaway,” observed Jerry. “Poor old boat! I suppose we had better accept this sum, and not sue, eh?” and he looked at his chums.
“Sure,” replied Bob. “If we sued it would take a good while to collect, and if we got a larger sum we’d have to pay the lawyers. Let’s take this money and hire the Ripper.”
“I don’t believe you’ll need all that,” interposed Rose. “That’s quite a sum, and Charlie will surely not ask as much as that for the hire of his boat.”
“Well, if he does we’ll pay it,” decided Jerry. “I want to cruise on the Pacific, and this seems to be the only way we can do it. We’ll have a motor boat trip, even of the Dartaway is out of commission.”
Charlie came over to “The Next Day” bungalow that night and in a short time he and the motor boys had arrived at a business arrangement regarding the hiring of the Ripper. Charlie only asked a small sum as rental, much less than the amount of damages received, so that the travelers had plenty left for other purposes.