"Oh, thanks," replied the stranger. "Now, I'll rest a while."
In the pilot house the boys discussed the incident that had so nearly resulted in a collision. They were all excited and beginning to feel the strain upon their nerves.
"This is getting to be one of our usual strenuous trips," announced Jack. "I declare we never go anywhere, it seems, but we dash head foremost into excitement and trouble. The only thing we need now to start us right is to discover a Boy Scout or two out here and we'll be prepared to go ahead and have some adventure."
"Never mind, Captain, we'll find the Boy Scouts, all right. Don't think our luck will turn yet. Just remember the horseshoe I picked up on the street in Mobile," urged Tom.
"Yes," Jack assented, "that's a fact. And, by the way, where did you put that horseshoe? I haven't seen it since."
"I hung it up on the switchboard lamp bracket," said Tom.
"Well, it isn't there now," declared Jack.
"What's that isn't there now?" asked Arnold at that moment climbing the companion-way from the cabin.
"Tom's horseshoe," Jack replied. "He says he hung it on the lamp over the switchboard and now it's gone."
"Oh, that," scorned Arnold. "That was just a little bit of a mule shoe. That wasn't a real full-sized horse shoe."