"Here it comes, sir!" exclaimed Warkworth, who, having completed his allotted task, had gone to the top of the cliff to watch for the motor-bus that was to take the Milford Sea Scouts and their baggage to the railway station.
The door of the hut was closed and locked, the Sea Scouts fell in, each lad shouldering his kit-bag.
"Quick march," came the crisp order, and the patrol made its way up the cliff path on the first stage of its adventures on the river and on the sea.
CHAPTER III
The "Olivette"
It was quite a jolly journey, frequent stoppages at stations and changes notwithstanding. Few of the boys had been off the main London line before, and the run between Basingstoke and Oxford was quite new to them. Mr. Armitage pointed out the chief objects of interest, while the Sea Scouts plied him with innumerable questions, some of which were beyond him. They worked out the speed of the train by observing how long it took to cover the distance between two telegraph posts, since these are placed eighty-eight yards, or one twentieth of a mile apart.
"What river is that, sir?" asked Hepburn.
"It isn't a river," declared Woodleigh. "It's a canal. Look, there's a tow-path and a lock."
"Strictly speaking, it's both," said Mr. Armitage. "It's a canalized river, and it happens to be the Thames."