Keeping His Course

“Talk about your ice-water,” said Arnold to himself, as he paddled slowly along on his back. “This has it beat a mile. I guess I stood around on the launch too long and got chil...

“We may have had some luck,” responded Toby, “but you can’t say Mr. Trainor didn’t umpire fairly. And I guess our fellows will be all ready for you any time you say. If you want...

Wednesday didn’t promise very well at first for the baseball game, for the morning dawned dark and lowery, with a thick fog rolling in from the bay. But by noon the fog-horns ha...

As they drew closer to the other boat the boys saw that she was a fine big cruiser with a lot of beam and a length of probably forty feet. Her cabin extended almost the length o...

It was after eight o’clock, as dark as Egypt and a great deal damper on board the _Aydee_. Phebe’s teeth insisted on chattering whenever she spoke, in spite of her efforts. Arno...

The baseball game between the Towners and the Spanish Head boys came off on the following Wednesday, strictly according to schedule. By that time Toby and Arnold had somewhat re...

They came up separately, Toby first. Fortunately for the boy of the launch, a good eight feet separated him from Toby at the moment of his emergence, for Toby was by no means sa...

That was the beginning of a fine friendship. Toby and Arnold became well-nigh inseparable. They spent hours and hours together in the _Frolic_ or the _Turnover_, swam, fished, c...

The _Aydee_ conformed to the limitations of the nearby yacht clubs and was along the lines of many similar boats that Mr. Tucker had built. She was twenty-one feet load water-li...

Of course Arnold was quite as pleased as Toby, and they spent the rest of that forenoon in laying glorious plans for the school year and in discussing the manners and customs of...

Toby saw no more of Arnold for a week, for school kept him busy, but Mr. Tucker reported that the _Frolic_ had twice been to the wharf for gasoline and that on each occasion her...

“I don’t believe we can catch them,” Toby muttered, his eyes on the tiny dark spot half a mile away. “And if we do we’ll probably get filled with bullets.”

Mr. Whitney was prompt the next morning, and the trip across was made in record time, the little _Urnove_ doing a good twelve miles an hour. On the way Toby told about the ferry...

One Sunday morning, a few days later, Toby, dressed for church, sauntered across the road and, skirting the boat shed, went on down to the wharf where the _Urnove_ lay snuggled...

“What he said about the ferry put it in my head,” said Toby. “There used to be a ferry across to Johnstown five or six years ago. I guess there weren’t many passengers then, but...

But Toby had already dropped to the hatching, and Arnold, releasing his grasp of the smaller launch, tumbled down beside him. Another shot rang out and somewhere overhead a seco...

Toby and Phebe awaited him at the boat-yard wharf and as soon as he had hastily secured the _Frolic_ to the stern of the _Follow Me_ and climbed the ladder they pulled him in tr...

Toby was very silent, but the fact that he spent most of his time looking back at the tow indicated where his thoughts were. Arnold, less affected by the beauty of the speed lau...

A boy with light blue eyes that just about matched the slightly hazy June sky sat on the float below the town landing at Greenhaven, L. I., and stared thoughtfully across harbor...

The next morning the Johnstown ferry began operations, at least theoretically. As a matter of fact, no one had appeared by nine o’clock, and, after pondering the matter, the boy...

Their troubles were soon over, and, seated in front of a fine, big fire in the Deerings’ living room, they recounted their adventures while they sipped from steaming cups of bee...

Toby was not mistaken, for presently the _Turnover_ was close enough to the disabled white launch for him to identify one of her two passengers as Arnold Deering. Who the other...