The three boys groaned in concert.
"A rough deal all around," said Jerry.
"What a disappointment it must have been, and he with his heart set on the trip!" exclaimed Will.
"But they tell us that 'it's a poor wind that blows nobody good.' So he has written me this letter, making a proposal," went on Frank, calmly.
"What!" shouted Jerry, clutching the arm of his chum.
"Oh! he hates to leave his fine, dandy little launch there at that town, where there is really no accommodation for her, and would like to have some one take her over the course to Cedar Keys, Florida, to put her up with a boat builder he knows. And so he wrote to me," continued Frank.
"Do you mean he has asked you to go down there and take that boat, just as he intended doing?" gasped Bluff.
"Yes, only that instead of taking two months loitering along I could do the job in ten days, perhaps," was the answer.
"Oh! what a lucky dog you are," sighed Will; "think of the innumerable chances for taking magnificent snapshots along the way."
"Hold on. I didn't tell you that in his letter he says particularly, 'you and those bully good chums of yours, the whole three—plenty of sleeping accommodations for the lot aboard!'" cried Frank, with a smile.