“But you see, George,” Josh remarked, with a wide grin, “the bally boat wouldn’t feel right at all if it went too smooth. Ever since you first got her she’s been accustomed to playing you tricks. Expect her to reform all at once, and be as meek as Moses? Well, I guess not. Give her time, George, plenty of time.”
“Oh! she’s got to see me through this cruise,” declared the owner of the cranky speed boat; “because I haven’t got the money to buy another right now. And no matter what the rest of you say, I’ve somehow always loved this boat.”
“Of course,” observed Herb; “they always say that the bad child is loved most by its parents, because they feel the greatest anxiety for that one. But give me the steady old Comfort, that never keeps me awake guessing what sort of trick it’ll play next.”
“Oh! that’s all right,” remarked George, indifferently; “everybody to their taste. But I’d die in that tub, watching all the rest run circles around me.”
“Oh! hardly that,” laughed Herb; “because, you see, once in a while there’s a little ripple of excitement comes breezing along, when some fellow asks to be taken in tow!”
Of course, after that George had nothing further to say; for he could look back to several instances that were full of humiliation to his proud spirit, when necessity had forced him to accept of this friendly aid on the part of his chums.
But they reached Pensacola finally in good shape. George hoped that after all, as the others said, that one little trick on the part of his engine might have only been a slip that would never occur again; though his confidence was shaken, and he watched its working suspiciously after that.
Letters from home greeted them at Pensacola; but no new developments were contained in them, at least nothing positive. The strike had not been settled, and there was warm talk of the town putting men to work regardless of labor unions.
“And so little has been done,” Jack remarked, after getting the consensus of opinions from all the letters that had been read, “that I can’t see, for the life of me, how they’re ever going to complete the building this season. I understand that it was proposed to use the biggest church in a pinch; but just as luck would have it, the heating plant in that has gone all to pieces, so that the scholars would be apt to freeze.”
The boys looked at each other, and smiled. Perhaps they were, deep down in their hearts, secretly hoping that the workers up there would keep on quarreling, and the completion of the high school building be postponed until the next summer. For boys give little thought concerning lost opportunities in the way of learning. Besides, were they not getting the finest lessons possible in the line of self reliance; and was not this long cruise the best sort of education, when they had learned a thousand things that could never be forgotten?