During the sail Ikey Moses had no reason to complain that the boys did not keep their word in regard to patronizing him, for hardly five minutes went by without their making a purchase of some kind. Katy had pea-nuts, apples, candy, and cakes piled up on the seat in front of her until it seemed certain that if she ate them all she would be obliged to return to the hospital.
When the boys were not gladdening Ikey Moses' heart by buying his wares, they were busily engaged in pointing out to Katy the different points of interest in the harbor, or in telling her of the wonderful things she was to see; and in this way the time passed so rapidly that before it seemed possible they could have been away from the pier ten minutes they were at Coney Island.
Having spent so much of their wealth on the steamer, it was necessary for them to be careful of their money if they expected to get any dinner, and in order that the purchases might be made more judiciously, Jimmy gave his portion of the funds to Johnny, thereby making him responsible for the manner in which the forty remaining cents were spent.
If they did not have quite as much money, they felt of just as much importance as any one on the beach, and they walked along in all the glory of good clothes and a contented mind. They would have enjoyed a swim—at least the boys would—but bathing suits were necessary; and after Johnny had vainly tried to persuade the man at the bath-house that ten cents ought to be enough for the hire of three suits, they concluded that perhaps they ought not waste so much time in the water, when they could be sight-seeing.
Never before had the three been on an excursion "dressed up," and they enjoyed their own condition quite as much as they did that which they saw. Even the dinner was a success, for Johnny bought one plate of chowder, with crackers for three, and on the clean though rather warm sand they sat around the one plate, quite as contented as if they had had all that money could buy.
It was not until the last trip of the boat on which Ikey Moses was employed that they started for home, and then they gave their friend no extra work in waiting upon them, for they had such a trifling sum in the treasury—that is to say, in Johnny's pockets—that they would be able to buy only a small stock of papers the next morning.
But they insisted on introducing Ikey to Katy, and obliged him to hear a detailed account of the manner in which they celebrated the release of "their girl" from the hospital. Katy very obligingly stood up that Master Moses could see her dress from every point of view, and long and loud was the discussion the boys entered into as to what color would have been the most beautiful, for they all condemned Mrs. Spratt's taste in the matter.
It was well that they had not arranged to spend more than one day at the sea-shore, for the costume of the boys was not well calculated to stand much service. As it was, the starch had departed so entirely from Johnny's clothes that they hung limp and in folds around him, while the improvised paper collars were such a wreck that they were discarded before the party reached home.
By some means the secret of where they were going had been discovered by their friends, and when they landed they found as many as twenty waiting to greet Katy, as well as to learn all the particulars of this excursion which had been made in such a fashionable manner, so far as clothes were concerned.
It was not until a late hour that night that Mother Brown's boarders retired, and just before they did go to bed they startled the old lady out of her first sleep and a portion of her senses by giving three rousing cheers for Johnny, Jimmy, and "their girl."