“Oh! I don’t know,” remarked the other, slowly and cautiously, as if wondering whether George could read his secret thoughts, and know that he was just then thinking of the pretty little girl whose hat he had rescued from the hungry maw of the lake that afternoon.
“Why, I think I hear voices over yonder where they landed, and girls at that,” George continued, wickedly. “No doubt the little darlings are about embarking on the return trip to the Mermaid. Now, if the wind would only suddenly swoop along, perhaps a boat might be upset. But Jack, with your clothes on, you’d have a tough time swimming out there and saving Rita’s life, like you did her bonnet.”
“Oh! let up on that, will you?” laughed Jack, good naturedly; for he was used to such joking and joshing on the part of his mates, and ready to take it in the same spirit of fun that it was meant. “I was thinking about our boats here. Seems to me that whoever is on guard should take up a position where he can keep an eye on the whole outfit. At the first sign of danger he must wake up the bunch of us. Isn’t that right, George?”
“Sure it is; but see here, you don’t really think anything will happen, do you?” the other demanded, uneasily. “Because if I had any idea that way, I’d feel like going aboard, and sleeping there, uncomfortable as a narrow speed boat is. Why, it’d nearly break my heart if anything knocked my Wireless just now, and spoiled the rest of my vacation.”
“Oh! I guess there’s no real danger,” said Jack, quickly; “but you know my way of being cautious. An ounce of prevention, they say, George, is better than a pound of cure. We insure our boats against explosion and loss; why not do the same about our chances for a jolly good time?”
“Right you are, Jack. That’s a long head you carry on your shoulders,” admitted the skipper of the speed craft. “But there they come. I can see the boat, and the white dresses of the girls. She is a little angel, Jack, and seriously I don’t blame you for wanting to see more of Miss Rita Andrews; but the chances are against you, old fellow.”
“Well, girls were the last thing we had in mind when we started on this trip,” remarked Jack. “We left lots of pretty ones at home, you know; and we’re getting letters from some of them right along. There, they’ve made the big power boat all right, and are getting aboard.”
“And you can go to sleep with an easy mind,” laughed George, “because the young lady wasn’t wrecked in port. But perhaps we might happen to catch up with ’em at the Soo, Jack. No doubt you had thought of that?”
“We expect to be at Mackinac first, and people generally stop off there a day or two,” remarked the pilot of the Tramp, falling into the little trap shrewd lawyer George had set for him; whereat the other gave him a dig in the ribs, and ran off to the camp to get his blankets ready for his first nap.
But nothing out of the way did happen that night, though the motor boat boys kept faithful watch and ward, one of them being on duty an hour or more at a time up to dawn.