“That this might be the swift boat Clarence has had built, and which he said was going to cut capers all around our fleet,” replied the other, promptly.
“Guessed it the first shot. Am I right?” asked George.
“Looks to me like a regular black, piratical craft,” observed Josh. “Just notice how low she sits in the water, would you? And there’s something sneaky in her whole make-up. Yes, that sort of a boat just seems to fit in with a fellow like Clarence Macklin, ‘Sneaky Clarence,’ you remember.”
“There’s a name in gold letters on her bow, but I can’t quite make it out. Here, Buster, just hand me my glasses, will you?”
A minute later George, having adjusted the marine glasses to his sight, gave utterance to a low whistle.
“I’ve got the name all right, fellows,” he remarked, “and what d’ye think it is? Just the plain word ‘Flash.’ I guess that stands for speed all right.”
“It also stands for what Clarence and Bully Joe represent,” Herb observed.
Often, as they busied themselves during the balance of that day, George’s eyes would wander toward that long, narrow boat that sat upon the heaving water with the grace of a black swan from Australia. George believed he could see the times when it would be nip and tuck between the Flash and his own hitherto unbeaten Wireless; and he confessed that perhaps the boast of the rival of the motor boat boys might not have been without reasonable foundation.
Knowing how many times they must go ashore before the stores and supplies were all aboard, the motor boat boys realized that it would be a saving of time if they raised anchor, and moored alongside the dock.
This was accordingly done. As noon had come, they went in detachments to the nearest hotel, and secured a meal; after which their baggage was taken aboard. Then, leaving the others to stow it away, as on the previous cruise, Jack, Herb and George went into town to purchase what their long list called for.