“But to be asked to take the boat out, after all your hard and daring work last night,” added Jessie.
“Hard work comes naturally in a life on the sea,” Tom replied. “And we had our sleep, after the night’s work.”
“But what fearful danger you went through. Mr. Dunstan was telling us all about it, as he heard it from his man over at Wood’s Hole,” said Elsie. “What fearful danger you were in!”
“We didn’t think much about it at the time,” remarked Halstead modestly. “When one has had to stand at the wheel of a motor boat, on the broad ocean, in all sorts of weather, and when he has to win out and bring his craft and passengers back safely, he doesn’t meet much that he calls dangerous.”
It was so quietly spoken that both girls glanced quickly, admiringly at the young captain. Joe, standing at the hatchway, looked as though he were thinking of nothing but the revolutions per minute that the propeller shaft was making.
“It must just be a splendid life!” declared Jessie impulsively. “I wish I were a boy.”
“Some day,” laughed Tom, “you may be pleased that you’re not.”
“Yet it must be fine,” pursued Elsie, “to look over this handsome boat and feel that you’re man enough to be absolute master of her and to feel that you can handle and control her under any conditions.”
“I couldn’t,” Halstead declared seriously. “I can steer the boat as long as the steering gear isn’t damaged or broken, that is, if the boat is under headway. But let there be an accident to the steering mechanism or let the motor refuse to drive the propeller, and suppose the accident to be of such a nature that we three boys couldn’t make the necessary repairs, how much control do you think I’d have over this craft? How much of a master do you think I’d be? Miss Lester, certain men have used their brains to design boat hulls. Other men have invented and perfected the propeller mechanism. Then finally other men, out of their brains, constructed the gasoline motor. We boys didn’t have anything to do with any of those triumphs of skill. All we’ve had to do is to learn how to be handy with the handling of other people’s discoveries.”
“That doesn’t sound very impressive, does it?” laughed Jessie.