“We need you,” Kate put in, in her steady, serene fashion. “I’ve never been to the shore. It must be glorious. The Potomac is dear to us all, of course, and old Chesapeake seems like an ocean in itself, but I mean right on the banks of the real sea—”
“‘Old ocean’s grey and melancholy waste,’” quoted Polly. “That’s where we’re going, Kitty Katherine.”
“Neither have I,” Isabel put in reflectively. “Of course we’ve been to summer resorts, and stayed at hotels, papa and mamma and the boys and I, but I mean to go to a stretch of shore where you couldn’t find a single peanut shell, or old tin can around. I hope there are great rocks and plenty of shells, Polly.”
“There will be along the Maine coast,” Ruth explained. “When you get south of Cape Cod, you rarely find beautiful shells. I forget the reason myself, but it is something about the tidal currents. Between Cape Cod and Cape May, the shells are more common, and there are not so many washed up along the shore.”
“Didn’t I tell you that Grandma’s knowledge would be valuable,” Polly cried, triumphantly. “Every time we get stranded on any point of information, we can appeal to our Bureau, and find out the facts. Crullers, dear, you take the last jumble. We’ll make you the cook’s assistant, and you shall eat until your eyelashes have to be done up in curl papers, and your finger nails crack.”
Crullers smiled at the prospect, as she adjusted her wide brimmed, dark blue sailor hat, with her class pin fastened to the band in front.
“I am willing to help any way I can, if I may go with you,” she said.
“How much do you figure it will cost each of us, Polly?” asked Kate, practically. “As ship’s husband, I have a right to know.”
“Only what we eat and possibly, repairs on the boats,” answered Polly. “Grandfather says he will take us up to Portland by sea, and we are to be his guests. From there we go by train to Eastport, the nearest village, and then to the island some way. You figure out how much it will cost to feed us all per week for eight weeks, and leave a margin on fish and canned goods. We can catch the fish when we get there, and grandfather says he will ship a box of canned goods up from New York.”
“I think the Admiral is too kind to us,” protested Ruth, but Polly frowned at her.