“All right,” said Nelson, “but I’ve seen it once, and I’d rather go to town. You fellows go, if you want to.”
Finally Dan and Tom decided to go through the fish house and Bob and Nelson to continue on to town.
“You’ll have to shed your clothes and take a bath when you come out,” Nelson warned them.
There wasn’t much to see in the town, and after making a few small purchases—that of a new potato knife being one of them—they boarded a car and, after the trials and tribulations usually falling to the lot of the person so rash as to patronize the Gloucester street railway, returned to the hotel and found Dan and Tom awaiting them on the porch.
Nelson and Bob halted at a respectful distance.
“Have you had your baths yet?” they asked.
“Not yet, but soon,” answered Tom.
“Then we’ll stay here, if you don’t mind,” said Bob.
“Oh, get out! It wasn’t very smelly,” declared Dan.
“But you are, I’ll bet!” Nelson took a few cautious steps toward them, and then turned as though in panic and raced for the landing. Bob followed, and after him came Tom and Dan and Barry. Despite the frantic efforts of the first two to cast off the tender before the others arrived, they were unsuccessful, and Dan, Tom, and the dog piled into the boat. Bob rowed with an expression of deep disgust, and Nelson ostentatiously kept his nose into the wind all the way to the launch.