Sea Scouts All: How the "Olivette" was won

by Percy F. Westerman

"Two days gone and only forty miles covered," commented Mr. Armitage. "We'll have to do better than that to-morrow, lads."

CHAPTER VIII

A Tow

"I wonder what Mr. Murgatroyd intends doing with the Olivette when he gets her to Teddington," remarked Roche next morning, while the crew were awaiting the arrival of the owner. "She can't be run 'all out', and there's a good engine practically wasted."

"It puzzles me," added Stratton, "why he should be content to be on board as a mere passenger. He hasn't taken the wheel once. I know I jolly well would if I were in his place."

"Perhaps he's going to engage a permanent crew," suggested Hepburn.

"'Tany rate she's the wrong type of boat for this ditch," declared the Patrol-leader. "Wouldn't I like to try her in a sea-way! Give an eye to that bacon, Dick. We don't want it burnt to a cinder."

"How's the glass this morning, sir?" inquired Alan, as Mr. Armitage emerged from his cabin.

"Falling rapidly," replied the Scoutmaster, giving a glance aloft at the clouds scudding across the sky. "We're in for a short, sharp spell of dirty weather, I'm afraid. However, we must take the bad with the good, and keep smiling. Any sign of Mr. Murgatroyd yet?"