The Adventure Club Afloat

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER IX

  SOUR MILK

  Perry was so surprised that he almost fell off the seat, while,forgetting to obey injunctions, he let the dingey run until there was asudden bump that toppled the milk-can over and nearly treated him thesame way. He looked startedly about. Six feet away lay a black boat anda boy with a boat-hook was threatening him from the deck.

  "You silly idiot!" called the boy impatiently. "Look where you're going!If I hadn't got you with the hook you'd have knocked half our paintoff!"

  The boy and the boat slowly vanished in the mist like a "fade-out" atthe movies, before Perry found his voice. Then: "Who the dickens areyou?" he gasped.

  "I'm the man who put the salt in the ocean," replied the voicejeeringly. "Come on easy and I'll get you."

  "Well, but--but--what boat's that?"

  "U.S. Battleship _Pennsylvania_, Pride of the Navy! Come on, youlubber!"

  Perry came on and again the boy with the boat-hook took form in thefog. "You're Cas Temple," said Perry stupidly. "That's the _Follow Me_!"

  "Surest thing you know, son! Hello! Why, it's Perry Bush. I thought youwere Bert. What did you do with the fellows?"

  "What fellows?" asked Perry, puzzled, as Cas pulled the dingey alongsidethe cruiser.

  "Why, Bert and Wink and the rest of them."

  "Haven't seen 'em."

  "Haven't? Where'd you get the boat, then?"

  "What boat?"

  "That one! The one you're in! Say, are you dippy?"

  "This is our boat and I got it--"

  "Your boat nothing! That's our boat, you silly chump! Think I don't knowour own tender?"

  "Wh-what!" gasped Perry. "So it is! Then, where's mine! I mean ours? Howdid I get this one?"

  "Search me! If you don't know, I'm blessed if I do," chuckled CasparTemple. "You must remember something that's happened since yesterdaymorning!"

  "Han and I went ashore," said Perry, staring puzzledly at the milk-canfrom which a tiny stream was trickling past the loosened stopper. "Thenwe went to look for our boat and I found this and I yelled to him and hedidn't come and so I started back to the boat to get some--" Perrysuddenly remembered his affliction. "Say, got any alcohol?" he askedanxiously.

  "Alcohol? I don't know. Why?"

  "I want some." Perry started to scramble out of the tender. "I gotpoisoned."

  "Snake?" asked Cas hopefully and eagerly.

  "Poison-ivy."

  "Oh!" The other's voice held keen disappointment. "Well, what do youwant alcohol for?"

  "It's good for it," explained Perry, reaching the cockpit. "See ifyou've got any, will you, Cas?"

  "Y-yes but, honestly, Perry, I wouldn't try it if I were you."

  "Why not!"

  "Why--why, if you go and drink a lot of alcohol--Besides, I'm all alonehere, and if you got--got troublesome--"

  "Drink it, you silly goat! Who's going to drink it? I'm going to rub iton the places!"

  "Oh, I see! That's different. I'll have a look, Perry." Cas was visiblyrelieved as he scrambled down to the cabin. Perry dropped into thedingey again and set the milk-can upright, and then, after anotherminute, Cas returned empty-handed. "I'm sorry," he said, "but we haven'ta bit. Would peroxide do?"

  "I don't know," answered Perry doubtfully. "Maybe. Hand it here and I'llgive it a chance. Say," he continued as he laved his wrists, "did yourcrowd leave this boat on the beach?"

  "I suppose so. That's where you found it, wasn't it! You'd better hustleback with it, too, for they said they'd be back about eleven. They wentto Vineyard Haven."

  "It's all well enough to say hustle back with it," replied Perrymorosely, "but where's your pesky beach?"

  "Why, over there," said Cas, pointing. "The way you came."

  "I came forty-eleven different directions," answered Perry. "All right,though. I'll try it. But I'm likely to be paddling around all day andnight. Got anything to eat on board?" Cas found some cookies and these,with a glass of water, raised Perry's spirits. "Farewell," he saidfeelingly, as he shoved off again. "I die for my country."

  "Did you fellows have any trouble finding this place yesterday?" askedCas as the departing guest dropped the oars in the locks.

  "Trouble?" Perry looked blank. "What sort of trouble?"

  "Why, the fog, you know. We had an awful time finding the harbour."

  "Oh, that!" Perry shrugged. "Why, we went straight for the jetty anddidn't have any trouble at all finding it. But then we've got anavigator on our boat. So long!"

  Perry discovered that rowing was raising a blister on each palm and thathis arms were getting decidedly tired. The trouble with a dingey, hedecided, was that while it might do excellently as a bathtub, it wascertainly never meant for rowing. The oars were so short that the beststrokes he was capable of sent the boat ahead scarcely more than threeor four feet, and, being almost as broad as it was long, the tenderconstantly showed a tendency to go any way but straight ahead. While hehad been aboard the _Follow Me_ the fog had again taken on its amber hueand now was unmistakably thinning out. But it was still thick enough tohide objects thirty feet away and Perry couldn't for the life of him becertain that he was sending his craft toward the beach. To be sure hehad started out in the general direction of the shore, as indicated byCas, but there was always the possibility that he was rowing strongerwith one oar than the other. He strove to curb that tendency and fanciedhe was succeeding, but when, after being afloat a good quarter of anhour, he still failed to see land or hear the break of waves on thebeach he was both puzzled and annoyed. The sun pierced the mist hotlyand he was soon panting and perspiring. He heartily wished that he hadnever agreed to accompany Han on the search for eggs. Presently herested on his oars, and as he did so he heard voices quite close. Hecalled.

  "Hello, there! Where's the beach?"

  "Here," was the answer.

  He rowed on and in another minute land came abruptly out of the fog. Twoblurred forms resolved themselves into men as Perry beached the dingeyand tiredly dropped the oars. The men came toward him and proved, onnearer acquaintance, to be middle-aged and apparently natives. "Quite afog," drawled one of them. "What boat you from, sir?"

  "The _Adventurer_." Perry viewed the immediate foreground withmisgiving. The beach looked more abrupt than he recalled it. "Whatbeach is this?" he inquired.

  "Well, I don't know as it's got any name exactly. What beach was youlookin' for?"

  "The beach between Vineyard Haven and--and some other place."

  "Oh, West Chop? Why, that's across the harbour, son. This is Eastville,this side."

  Perry groaned. He had rowed in a half-circle then. Unless Cas haddirected him wrong. Presently the true explanation came to him. The tidehad turned between the time the _Follow Me's_ crowd had gone ashore andthe time that Perry had reached that boat, and Cas had not allowed forthe fact that the cruiser had swung around! "Well," he said wearily, "Iguess I've got to row across again."

  "Too bad," sympathised one of the men. "It's most a mile. Guess, though,you'll be able to see your way pretty soon. This fog's burning offfast."

  Out of sight of the men Perry again laid his oars down and reachedbehind him for the can of milk. It was rather warm, but it tasted goodfor all of that. Then, putting the wooden stopper back in place, he oncemore took up his task. Perhaps he might have been rowing around thatharbour yet had not the fog suddenly disappeared as if by magic. Wispsof it remained here and there, but even as he watched them, they curledup and were burned into nothingness like feathers in a fire. He foundhimself near the head of a two-mile-long harbour. The calm blue waterwas rippling under the brushing of a light southerly breeze and here andthere lay boats anchored or moored. While the fog had hidden the harbourhe had supposed that not more than half a dozen craft were within sight,but now, between mouth and causeway, fully two dozen sailboats andlaunches dotted the surface. Over his shoulder was a little hamlet thatwas doubtless Vineyard Haven. Facing him was a larger community, and hedecided that that would be Oak Bluffs. Half a m
ile down the harbour laythe _Adventurer_ and, nearer at hand, the _Follow Me_. But what was ofmore present interest to Perry was a group of figures on the oppositebeach. They appeared to be seated and there was that in their attitudewhich, even at this distance, told of dejection. So, reflected Perry,might have looked a group of marooned sailors. He sighed and bent againto his inadequate oars. He was under no misapprehension as to the sortof welcome awaiting him, but, like an early Christian martyr on the wayto the arena, he proceeded with high courage if scant enthusiasm.

  With the sun pouring down upon him, with his hands blistered, with hisbreath just about exhausted and his arms aching, he at last drew to theshore amidst a dense and unflattering silence. Five irate youths steppedinto the tender and crowded the seats. Harry Corwin took his placebeside Perry and relieved him of the port oar. Perry would have yieldedthe other very gladly, but none offered to accept it and he hadn't thecourage to make the suggestion. The dingey floated off the sand again,headed for the _Follow Me,_ and then the storm broke. It didn't descendall at once, however. At first there were muffled growls of thunder fromHarry Corwin. Then came claps from Wink Wheeler. After that the elementsraged about Perry's defenceless head, even "Brownie" supplying some finelightning effects!

  Perry gathered in the course of the uncomplimentary remarks directedtoward him that the crowd, being unable to find the dingey where theybelieved they had left it, had spent some twenty minutes searching upand down the beach, that subsequently they had waited there in the fogfor a good forty minutes more and that eventually Perry Bush wouldsooner or later come to some perfectly deplorable end and that for theirpart they didn't care how soon it might be. By the time the _Follow Me_was reached Perry was too worn out to offer any excuse. Cas, however,did it for him, and, as the others' tempers had somewhat sobered by thenamusement succeeded anger. Perry faintly and vaguely described hiswanderings about the harbour and the amusement increased. As dinner wasannounced about that time he was dragged to the cabin and propped in acorner of a bunk and fed out of hand. An hour later he was transported,somewhat recovered, to the _Adventurer_ by Harry and Tom Corwin and WinkWheeler and delivered, together with his precious can of milk, into thehands of his ship-mates.

  The _Adventurer's_ tender bobbed about at the stern and the first personPerry set eyes on as he scrambled onto the bridge deck was Han. Perryfixed him with a scathing gaze. "Where," he demanded, "did you get to,idiot?"

  "Oh, I'll tell you about that," answered Han. "You see I was afraidabout that poison-ivy and so I took a dip in the ocean. And--"

  "But I called you and called!"

  "Yes, and I answered a couple of times. And then I may have had my headunder water."

  "A monstrous pity you didn't keep it there!"

  "When," continued Han, "I went to look for you I couldn't find you. SoI--so I came back here."

  "Yes, you thought maybe I'd swum across, eh! Or found a boat?"

  "Sure! You did find a boat, didn't you?"

  "You make me tired," growled Perry amidst the laughter of the others."And I hope that poison-ivy gets you good and hard!"

  "I don't believe it took," replied Han gently, "Maybe it wasn'tpoison-ivy, after all!"

  At that instant the outraged countenance of Ossie appeared in thecompanion way. "What," he demanded irately of Perry, "do you mean bybringing back half a gallon of sour milk?"

  Perry looked despairingly about at the unsympathetic and amused facesand wandered limply aft to the seclusion of the cockpit.

  The next morning the Adventure Club chugged around to Edgartown, andthen, after putting in gasoline and water, set out at a little aftereleven, on a fifty-mile run to Pleasant Bay.