CHAPTER VIII
STARTING ADVENTURE
The girls awoke next morning to a day that seemed just made for them. The air was balmy and unusually cool for that time of the year. The sun shone brightly and there was not a cloud to spoil the even blue of the sky.
The boys had agreed to carry their luggage for them down to the dock. As the latter consisted of a few blankets, with utensils and some other small and necessary articles wrapped snuggly inside, the burden would not be great.
They had laid in quite a stock of canned goods, bacon, and other foodstuffs which they had already stowed away in the Gem.
“I hope some tramp doesn’t take it into his head to investigate,” Betty had said the day before, when they were leaving the little boat. “If so, we might find ourselves minus provisions.”
“At the worst, we could always buy more,” Mollie had retorted, and the matter had dropped there.
Since Henry Blackford’s cabin would serve them for ample shelter the girls had no need for a tent or for tent furnishings. This had, of course, simplified their preparations considerably.
According to Amy’s brother, there was a good oil stove in the cabin, also several utensils. However, as the girls had no way of knowing what condition these utensils were in, they preferred to furnish their own.
It had been arranged the night before that, promptly at seven-thirty the next morning, Allen was to repair to Betty’s house, Frank Haley to Mollie’s, Roy to Amy’s. Will Ford was taking down his sister’s luggage.
Although Grace had argued that seven-thirty was an unheard of hour to start and absolutely unnecessary, considering the short distance they had to go, she had been ruled down by a majority of three to one.