“I won’t be a minute.”
“That’s what they all say.” But Grace was really not very long.
In answer to a telephone message next day the three chums assembled at Betty’s house.
“I think we will go for a little trip all by ourselves on the river this afternoon,” she said. “Every time so far Uncle Amos, or one of the boys, has been with us. We must learn to depend on ourselves.”
“That is so,” agreed Mollie. “It will be lovely, it is such a nice day.”
“Just a little trip,” went on Betty, “to see if we have forgotten anything of our instructions.”
Just then a clock chimed out eight strokes, in four sections of two strokes each.
“Eight o’clock!” exclaimed Amy. “Your timepiece must be wrong, Betty. It’s nearer noon than eight.”
“That’s eight bells—twelve o’clock,” said the pretty hostess, with a laugh. “That’s a new marine clock Uncle Amos gave me for the Gem. It keeps time just as it is done on shipboard.”
“And when it’s eight o’clock it’s twelve,” murmured Grace. “Do you have to do subtraction and addition every time the clock strikes?”