The “Fearless,” apparently racing at almost the speed of a railroad train, had brought into view what appeared to be but a small gray vertical streak. The four watched it and a confused blur of lights and darks on the distant shore slowly shaping themselves into definite form.
Finally, towers, domes and chimneys sprang out from the shadowy masses, to form gray silhouettes against the sky. Before long the largest city in Wisconsin was clearly revealed to the gaze of the interested boys.
The motor yacht soon swung abreast of the lighthouse, and, at length, glided smoothly into the picturesque Milwaukee River, where a variety of interesting sights began to pass in a steadily-moving procession.
A bridge opened to let them by, then another. Near the third, which Captain Bunderley explained was the East Water Street bridge, he pointed out a landing.
“There’s where I usually moor the ‘Fearless,’” he said.
“Why not follow your general custom now?” asked the Judge.
“For two reasons,” answered the captain: “your office is considerably further in town, and the boys will have an opportunity to see more of the water-front.”
“Objection sustained,” laughed Judge Hampton, “with my thanks added.”
At the Grand Avenue bridge a small steamer, coming from the opposite direction, held the motor yacht up for a few moments.
Great warehouses, with long rows of staring windows and having only a narrow footway between them and the water, lifted their time-stained walls grimly against the clouds. The river, hemmed in on every hand, assumed a peculiar appearance of narrowness, which to the boys was heightened by contrast with the broad open lake so recently left behind. To their right a great modern structure surmounted by a tower was surrounded by buildings of all heights and sizes, the old and new standing side by side. Still further beyond, another towered structure, the city hall, rose high in the air.