But Toby shook his head. “It wouldn’t be fair. I’d ask him the same as the rest. Only, maybe there won’t be any rest. It wouldn’t do any harm to try it for a couple of weeks, though, eh? And it might turn out fine!”
“It will! I’ll bet there’s lots of folks over at the Head who’d be mighty glad to get over to Johnstown if they didn’t have to go all around by road. Why, it must be ten or twelve miles by the road!”
All the way up the river to the landing at Riverport, all the way to the freight house, all the way back, laden with a forty-pound box of yacht hardware, and all the way home again they talked over the ferry scheme, Arnold becoming even more enthusiastic than Toby. They developed the plan until, in their imaginations, they could see a whole flotilla of ferryboats crossing the bay to Johnstown and Riverport and around to Shinnecock and even as far as Mattituck! And real ferryboats, too; fine white and gold cabin launches holding as many as thirty persons! And Toby was to stand at the wheel and navigate while Arnold, in a resplendent white duck suit and cap with crossed anchors on it was to collect the fares!
The only thing that worried Arnold was that he would be so busy helping Toby operate the ferry line that he wouldn’t have time to use the new knockabout. But Toby brought partial consolation by pointing out that there’d be time, between trips, maybe, and that, anyway, they’d have the evenings. Even baseball went to the discard for the rest of that week, so busy were they planning and perfecting the new ferry service. Frank Lamson, whose one desire just then was to wreak vengeance on the town ball team, threatened mutiny, declaring that if Arnold didn’t call practice and attend it he and the other members of the Spanish Head team would take affairs into their own hands and elect a new captain. Arnold managed to put him off until Monday, however, and by that time “Tucker’s Ferry Line” was about ready for business. Toby had decided to wait until Thursday before starting the service in order to play that ball game on Wednesday. Arnold would have canceled it willingly, but Toby declared that it wouldn’t be fair to the fellows who had joined his team, and practiced more or less faithfully, to disband without at least one more game.
“After Wednesday I’ll tell them I can’t play any more and then they can choose another captain and keep on if they want to. Maybe if the ferry doesn’t succeed we can have some more games. It wouldn’t interfere with your playing, Arn, because we wouldn’t both have to attend to the ferry.”
But Arnold denied that vigorously. “I’m going to do my full share of the work,” he declared. “Besides, I can play baseball most any time. Those fellows can find a new captain, if they like, and go on playing. I guess Frank will be glad to take the job. He doesn’t much like the way I’m doing it, anyway,” he concluded with a laugh.
On Friday, Long Tim, painter as well as carpenter, planed down a four-foot pine plank after hours, sandpapered it, braided a small half-round along the edges, and covered the whole with a priming coat of white paint. And then, the following evening, while Toby and Arnold stood over him, breathless and admiring, he traced out the inscription “Johnstown Ferry,” filled in the letters with black, put another coat of white on the remainder of the surface, and finally finished up by placing a black border around all. The boys viewed the result with enthusiastic approval and sighed with regret when Long Tim turned it to the wall to dry. They found a new name for the Turnover that evening by the simple expedient of chopping off the first and last letters, and the launch became, for the summer at least, the Urnove.
On Monday morning Toby parted with two dollars and a half of that precious five in exchange for fifty cardboard placards which announced startlingly:
GREENHAVEN-JOHNSTOWN FERRY
Commencing Thursday, July 17, launches Frolic and Urnove will leave the town landing for Johnstown daily except Sunday at 9 and 11 A. M. and 2 and 4 P. M. Returning, leave Johnstown one-half hour later. Fare, one way, 50 cents. Round trip, 75 cents.