"By-the-bye, I don't see any fire-wood around here," said Joe, "and I don't see any chance of getting any milk."
"If the Captain's willing, I'll do the cooking to-night, and get my own fire-wood," said Harry. "We've got some condensed milk, and we can get along well enough with that."
"When anybody volunteers to do a really noble act, he ought to be allowed to do it," said the Captain. "Harry shall get the supper to-night, but after this we'll take our regular turns. I'll read the list of assignments every morning, and to-morrow morning I'll get the breakfast myself."
While this conversation was in progress, Harry was down on his knees hunting for something under the forward deck. Presently he dragged out a package wrapped in brown paper, and about the size of a small butter tub. Then he made a second search, and brought out two bottles, the coffee-pot, and the cups, plates, and other dishes.
The boys watched him with much interest while he unwrapped the mysterious bundle. It proved to be a small kerosene stove. Standing it on the deck out of the way of the boom, Harry filled it with oil from one of the bottles, and lighted the wick. When it was burning nicely, the coffee-pot, full of water, was placed on the stove, where it boiled in a very few minutes. Then, putting the coffee-pot aside, so that the grounds might have time to settle, Harry put a little frying-pan on the stove, laid half a dozen sausages in it, and told the boys to pour out their coffee, for the sausages would be ready for them by the time the last cup of coffee would be ready. He was as good as his word, and the sausages were cooked better—so everybody agreed—than sausages had ever been cooked before.
"Where in the world did you get that stove from?" Tom demanded, as his last bit of sausage disappeared.
"It is a present to us," replied Harry. "Jim's mother sent it to me this morning, but she showed me how to use it two or three days ago. She sent it because poor old Jim couldn't go."
"Poor Jim!" exclaimed Charley. "It's an awful shame he isn't here. We'll write to him to-morrow, and tell him how splendidly the stove works. Why, it will save us all the trouble of getting fire-wood for the whole cruise."
After supper was over, the canvas covering was rigged over the cockpit, the beds were made, and the boys prepared to sleep.
"This cushion is a great deal softer than the coffee-pot and the tin cans were last summer," remarked Joe; "but then we used to wake up early, and now we're so comfortable that we'll probably sleep all the morning. I don't expect to wake up till ten o'clock."