“If I did it wouldn’t be a surprise!” he protested. “But I’m all prepared to pilot you down to where she is. She’s in the offing, all fitted for a cruise. All she needs is a captain and crew, and I think Bet here will be the one, and you girls the other. I may ship as cook or cabin boy, if you’ll have me, but that is as may be. Now, if you’re ready we’ll go down to the dock and see how the tide is.”
“But we have no tide here, Uncle Amos,” spoke Betty.
“What! No tide! What sort of a place is it without a tide? I’m disappointed, lass, disappointed!”
“We’ll try and have one made for you,” said Mollie, with a laugh.
“That’s it! That’s the way to talk. Salt water and a tide would make any place, even a desert—er—er—what is it I want to say, Bet?”
“I don’t know, Uncle, unless that it would make the desert blossom like the rose.”
“That’s it—a rose. You luffed just at the right time. Well, ladies, all hands have been piped to quarters, so we’ll start. It’s nearly four bells, and I told the mate I’d be there by then. Let’s start.”
And start they did. On the way toward the river, whither Mr. Marlin insisted on leading the girls, Betty explained how her uncle had arrived unexpectedly that day, and had talked mysteriously about the surprise.
“It’s a boat—I’m sure it is,” said Mollie.
“Oh, he’d talk that same way about an automobile or an airship,” said Betty. “He calls everything, ‘she,’ and if it was an auto he’d ‘anchor’ it near the river just to be close to the water he loves so much.”