This old pipe was possibly six feet in length; and to the mind of a practical joker like Josh it presented some alluring possibilities.
Swinging it upward when Nick was not looking, he managed to bridge the watery gap between the Wireless and the Comfort, and quickly called in a sepulchral tone through the novel speaking-tube:
“Hello! down there! Give me connection with Buster Longfellow! I’m the ghost that walks in the night. I want to have a heart-to-heart confab with Buster!”
“What you trying to do, give me heart disease, or an attack of delirium tremens?” exclaimed Nick, who had started violently upon hearing that muffled sound so close to his ear. “Say, you don’t know how queer that does go. Talk about your megaphones! That tube carries sound to beat the Dutch. I wonder now—gee!”
“Hello! What ails Pudding? Look, fellows, the poor fellow’s got an idea, and it seems so strange that he don’t know what to do with it!” jeered Josh.
“Huh! don’t I?” replied the fat boy, whose face had turned pale, and then rosy red. “You just wait and see. Perhaps you’ll say it was an inspiration some fine day. And no use to josh me about it, for I ain’t going to squeal one little bit. But, oh, my! I wonder if that could just be so! This is the second time it’s give me a start. If Aleck only does what I asked him!”
He stuck to his word about saying no more; and although Josh kept on teasing him for quite some time, Nick kept his lips resolutely closed on that subject.
The balance of the day passed away without anything happening that seemed out of the way. They saw nothing more of the mysterious dark boat; nor did any small craft come prowling around to have the occupants glower at them, as though begrudging them their pleasant anchorage just on the edge of that little cove.
Supper was a great success. Josh fairly outdid himself in cooking the fish, all of them going ashore on the beach to where he had made a camp fire. And afterwards they sat around, telling stories, and singing many of their favorite school songs, until the hour grew late.
When they went aboard, the night was dark; for it seemed to cloud up at sundown almost every evening now. All of them were busily employed getting their blankets arranged for sleeping, and the two who were to keep first watch had even settled down comfortably in their places; when to their ears came the sudden rapid popping that would indicate the presence of a motor boat in the near vicinity.