“A bit too much,” said Joe, with a vivid recollection of his own mishap. “Don’t let Fred get hold of a book; we might as well turn in.”
And they did.
Early next morning, Norman Redfern appeared, bringing with him a few articles which he especially valued.
“Up anchor—let ’er go!” said Dick, and the “Gray Gull” resumed her voyage.
The river and its surroundings seemed to grow more interesting as they progressed. The great excursion boats plying to Newburgh; the Albany day line of steamers, and a host of other craft, from handsome private yachts and motor boats to lumbering schooners and clumsier barges from Haverstraw, loaded with bricks, all came in for a share of attention. The telescope swept them from stem to stern and back again, and a running fire of comments and speculation often resulted.
They, too, were regarded with interest, and occasionally, when sarcastic hails and laughter reached their ears, the boys yelled back replies with all the riotous energy that the incident warranted.
The great wall of the Palisades, they found, came to an abrupt end, and some distance further along rose a thickly wooded hill, skirting the shore of the river for miles. On the eastern side Norman Redfern pointed out Irvington, the home of Washington Irving, and then Tarrytown and the historic Dobbs’ ferry.
The river soon widened out into the Tappan Sea, and the opposite shore could be seen but faintly through a gray-blue haze.
Saucy little waves reflected the clear blue overhead. The day promised to be hot, and white clouds piling up in the west began to assume an ominous appearance.
“Nyack the next stop, captain?” asked Joe.