Quebec was reached by the fleet several hours after Joe had arrived there by the train. He was at the landing-place to meet his comrades, and had already made a bargain with a canal-boatman to carry the canoes all the way to New York for five dollars each. As the Sunshine was fitted with hatches which fastened with a lock, and as it would be necessary for the Custom-house officer at Rouse’s Point to search her, Harry wrote to the Custom-house at that place, giving directions how to open the lock. It was a padlock without a key, one of the so-called letter-locks which can be opened by placing the letters in such a position that they spell some particular word. Harry had provided the canoe with this lock expressly in order to avoid trouble at Custom-houses, and in this instance the plan proved completely successful, for the officer at Rouse’s Point was able to unlock the canoe and to lock it up again without a key.
The boys spent a night and a day at Quebec, and, after seeing their canoes safely started, they took the train for New York. As they talked over their cruise on the way home they agreed that canoeing was far more delightful than any other way of cruising, and that they would go on a canoe cruise every summer.
“As soon as I can afford it I shall get a new canoe,” said Tom.
“Will you get a ‘Rice Laker?’” asked Harry.
“Of course I will. My canoe was much the best boat in the fleet, and I shall get another exactly like her.”
“There’s no doubt that you are a genuine canoeist, Tom,” said Charley. “You’ve had lots of trouble with your canoe because she had no deck, and at last she sunk and nearly drowned you, because she had no water-tight compartments; but for all that you really think that she was the best canoe ever built. Is everybody else convinced that his own canoe is the best in the world?”
“I am,” cried Joe.
“And I am,” cried Harry.
“So am I,” added Charley; “and as this proves that we are all thorough canoeists, we will join the American Canoe Association at once, and cruise under its flag next summer.”