CHAPTER XXIABOARD THE MOTOR BOAT
Nothingcould, have been more of a disappointment to the Curlytops just then than to hear they could not keep on touring around. They were having such fun they did not want it to stop. But if they had no auto to go in, they would have to return home—and the trip wasn’t half finished!
“And how are we going to take those albums to Mr. Cardwell?” said Teddy.
“Let’s go and see how badly the car is damaged,” suggested Mr. Martin. “Perhaps it can be repaired so we can go on.”
“It will need a new wheel,” answered the lumberman. “I think one can be sent on from the factory, or the nearest supply house, but it will take several days. It’s too bad!”
“It couldn’t have been helped, I suppose,” said Mr. Martin, as, with his wife andchildren, he walked toward his car. “I shouldn’t have left it there.”
“The tree was taller than any of us thought,” said the lumberman. “The end of it stuck out farther than we calculated, and it was just the tip of it that hit your front wheel.”
It did not take more than a glance from Mr. Martin to tell him that he could not continue touring in his auto—at least, until a new wheel was secured.
“If only the tire or the rim had been broken, we could have managed,” he said. “For we carry a spare tire and rim. But I haven’t an extra wheel.”
“We’ll get you one,” offered Mr. Birch. “It was the fault of our company that your wheel was broken, and we’ll pay for a new one. I’ll telegraph and have one sent on from Blissville at once. There is a branch agency there that keeps parts for your car.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Mr. Martin. “It can’t be helped now. I am glad no one was hurt. There is no great hurry about our tour—a few days’ wait will not matter.”
But it would take more than a few days to supply a new wheel for the one broken on the auto, it was found out. The agencywas out of wheels for the kind of car Mr. Martin owned, and it would be necessary to send to Michigan for one. This would take about two weeks, stated the telegram that came in reply to the one Mr. Birch had sent.
“Do you think we want to stay in this lumber camp two weeks more?” asked Mrs. Martin of her husband.
“Hardly,” he answered. “And yet I don’t see how we can continue our tour without a car.”
“Couldn’t we go on horseback?” asked Ted. “When we were at Uncle Frank’s ranch we rode on ponies.”
“I’d like a pony,” Janet said.
“The ponies might be all right for you two Curlytops and for me,” said their father. “But I hardly think your mother and Trouble could manage it. No, we had best either go back home or wait here for a new wheel.”
Mr. Birch was saying how sorry he was that the plans of the family had thus been spoiled when Mr. Teeter suddenly asked:
“How about a motor boat?”
“A motor boat?” asked Mr. Martin. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” explained the lumberman,“how would you like to keep on touring in a motor craft? I suppose cruising would be a better word than touring, when you speak of a boat. But how about it?”
“A boat would be dandy fun!” exclaimed Ted.
“I think so, too,” added his sister.
“But it would take us as long to arrange to hire a boat as it would to wait for a new wheel,” objected Mr. Martin. “Besides, how could we get to Bentville by boat?”
“Very easily,” answered Mr. Teeter. “Rockaway River, which is the stream we float our logs down, flows from Crystal Lake, about fifty miles up country. You could cruise along the river, and so get to the lake. Then you cross the lake and you’re right at Bentville.”
“Yes, I suppose we could do that,” admitted Mr. Martin, after thinking it over. “But what about a boat? Where could we get one?”
“Take mine,” offered the lumberman. “I have a very good little cabin motor boat down in the river. You can put your things from the auto into the boat and keep on going.”
“Oh, Daddy, let’s do it!” cried Ted.
“Please!” added Janet.
“I like a boat on the water,” crooned Trouble. “Nellifunts, they squirt water out of they trunks.”
“What do you say, Ruth?” asked Mr. Martin of his wife.
“It sounds very nice,” she answered, with a smile. “But I should like to see the boat. Is there room on it for all of us?”
“Plenty,” said Mr. Teeter. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
It wasn’t far from the lumber camp to the Rockaway River, and at a small dock was tied the gasoline motor boat,Pine Tree. This was a very good name, the Curlytops thought, for a boat owned by a lumberman.
“Say, she’s a dandy!” exclaimed Ted, as he went on board.
“I like this better than an auto,” said Janet. “There’s more room to move about.”
This was true. Though thePine Treewas not an especially large motor boat, there was much more room on her than in even the largest touring car. There was a cabin in which they could eat, and at night the table folded up out of the way and bunks, like those in sleeping cars, could be let down. A sliding partition made the large cabin intotwo small ones. One could be used by Ted and his father, while the other would do for Mrs. Martin, Janet and William.
“Well, do you think you want to go cruising for a while instead of autoing?” asked the lumberman.
“Yes, indeed, thank you,” said Mrs. Martin. “I’m almost glad, now, that the wheel was broken. This is a lovely little boat.”
So it was arranged. The baggage from the Martin car was put aboard thePine Tree, and the lockers and pantry were stocked with food. Things could be cooked on a gasoline stove in the little galley, or kitchen.
“Don’t forget the albums,” said Mrs. Martin to her husband, when the boat was being made ready. “We don’t want to leave them behind.”
“No, indeed,” he answered. “I have them here.”
He stowed away, on board thePine Tree, the box of old albums which had been intrusted to him. They were still wrapped up as they had come by express from Mr. Portnay in New York. The movie actor, it was said by Mr. Birch, had been ill and wouldnot resume work for a time. Then he expected to go West to complete the film, part of which the Curlytops had seen made.
“All aboard!” called Mr. Martin, on the morning when a fresh start was to be made in the touring plans of the Curlytops. “All aboard!”
The lumbermen and the movie people had said good-by, wishing the Curlytops and their family all sorts of good luck. Mr. Teeter arranged for the Martins to come back in the boat and leave it at the camp when they had cruised as much as they wished.
“By that time I’ll have a new wheel on your auto,” he told Mr. Martin, “and you can drive home in the car.”
“That’s a good idea,” said the father of the Curlytops.
You can imagine how delighted Ted, Janet and Trouble were as they sat on the little deck of thePine Treeand looked at the scenery along the Rockaway River, up which they were puffing their way to reach Crystal Lake. Mr. Martin knew how to run and steer a motor boat. In quiet stretches of the river he allowed Ted and Janet to hold the wheel for a time.
“It’s just lovely here,” said Mrs. Martin with a happy sigh as she leaned back against a cushion. “It’s much nicer than the auto.”
Mr. Martin thought so, too, and while of course he did not like to have wheels smashed, still some good came out of it. Up the winding river went thePine Tree, new scenes presenting themselves every minute.
They did not have to go ashore to spend the night, nor even stop for meals, which were cooked on board. Mrs. Martin took charge in the galley, and Ted and Janet gave whoops of delight when she blew a whistle which meant that the first lunch was ready.
They did not speed along, for, as before, Mr. Martin was in no hurry, but they took their time, and that afternoon, as they were passing a large town, they tied up at a wharf and went ashore, as Mrs. Martin wanted to buy some food which they had not been able to put on board at the lumber camp.
“We aren’t going to travel in the night, are we?” asked Ted of his father, as they puffed along late that afternoon, the cupboard having been well stocked at the last stopping place.
“No, I hardly think so,” he answered. “I don’t know this river well enough tonavigate it after dark. When it gets a little later we’ll anchor for the night, and go on in the morning.”
“Are we going to sleep on this boat?” Trouble wanted to know.
“Of course,” answered Ted. “Do you think you’re going to sleep in the water?”
“I don’t see any beds,” remarked the little fellow, looking about.
“Well, I don’t wonder at that,” laughed his mother. “The beds are folded up, my dear. They come down like this.”
As I have told you, the berths in thePine Treewere made to fold up during the day like those in a sleeping car. A turn of a handle and a pull brought down the beds out of recesses in the cabin walls. There were blankets, sheets and pillows stored in each berth, just as on a sleeper.
“Oh, I like these little beds!” cried Trouble, as he saw them come down.
“It’s a dandy boat,” declared Ted.
When it was dark Mr. Martin ran the boat near shore and dropped the anchor. Then, after a while, they all “turned in,” as a sailor would say—that is, they went to bed.
Janet suddenly awakened in the night—how late it was she didn’t know—but somethingdisturbed her. A low light, operated by a storage battery, gleamed in the tiny cabin, and Janet looked across to the bunk where her mother was sleeping, with Trouble on the berth below her.
“Mother! Mother!” called Jan, in a low voice, so as not to awaken her small brother.
“Yes, dear, what is it?” asked Mrs. Martin. She was a light sleeper, accustomed to being awakened many times in the night by her children.
“I think,” said Janet in a whisper, “somebody is running away with thePine Tree.”
“Running away with thePine Tree! Do you mean with this boat?” asked Mrs. Martin.
“Yes, Mother! We’re moving! Don’t you feel it?”