It was really an unusually handsome craft, and it was little wonder that Paul regarded it with pride. He invited the girls on board, and they went into raptures enough over it to satisfy even him.
It was a good fifty feet in length and had a cabin in which one could stand up if one were not very tall. There were bunks running along both sides of the cabin that looked like leather-cushioned divans in the daytime and could be turned into the most comfortable of beds at night.
There was a galley “for’ard,” too, where the boys cooked their rather sketchy meals, and into this the girls poked eagerly curious heads.
“Oh, it’s all just the completest thing I’ve ever seen!” cried Billie, clapping her hands in delight while Paul looked at her happily. “Those cunning curtains at the window and—everything!”
“My mother did that,” Paul admitted sheepishly, as he followed the girls out on the deck. “And I didn’t like to take them down.”
“Well, I should say you wouldn’t take them down!” said Connie indignantly. “The idea! Don’t you dream of it! Why, they are just what make the cabin!”
“But isn’t this some deck! Did your mother do this too, Paul?” asked Laura, her eyes traveling admiringly from the pretty wicker lounging chairs to the gayly striped awning and brilliant deck rail that shown like gold in the dazzling sun. “Why, Paul, I never knew a motor boat could be so pretty and comfy.”
“Say, but you ought to see her go!” put in Chet eagerly. “She’s as fast a little boat as she is pretty. Oh, she’s great!”
“Yes, it almost makes me wish I had done some studying at school,” said Ferd Stowing, rubbing his head ruefully. “Maybe if I had my dad would have given me an aeroplane or something.”
After they had fastened the boat securely to the dock so that there was no danger of its floating off they turned reluctantly away from the dock and started off toward the Danvers’ cottage.