Fantasy Football Challenge - Football Fanatics Library

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Fantasy Football Challenge presents
The Adventure Club Afloat

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"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 know our own tender?" "Wh-what!" gasped Perry. "So it is! Then, where's mine! I mean ours? How did I get this one?" "Search me! If you don't know, I'm blessed if I do," chuckled Caspar Temple. "You must remember something that's happened since yesterday morning!" "Han and I went ashore," said Perry, staring puzzledly at the milk-can from which a tiny stream was trickling past the loosened stopper. "Then we went to look for our boat and I found this and I yelled to him and he didn't come and so I started back to the boat to get some--" Perry suddenly remembered his affliction. "Say, got any alcohol?" he asked anxiously. "Alcohol? I don't know. Why?" "I want some." Perry started to scramble out of the tender. "I got poisoned." "Snake?" asked Cas hopefully and eagerly. "Poison-ivy." "Oh!" The other's voice held keen disappointment. "Well, what do you want alcohol for?" "It's good for it," explained Perry, reaching the cockpit. "See if you'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 alone here, and if you got--got troublesome--" "Drink it, you silly goat! Who's going to drink it? I'm going to rub it on the places!" "Oh, I see! That's different. I'll have a look, Perry." Cas was visibly relieved as he scrambled down to the cabin. Perry dropped into the dingey again and set the milk-can upright, and then, after another minute, Cas returned empty-handed. "I'm sorry," he said, "but we haven't a bit. Would peroxide do?" "I don't know," answered Perry doubtfully. "Maybe. Hand it here and I'll give it a chance. Say," he continued as he laved his wrists, "did your crowd leave this boat on the beach?" "I suppose so. That's where you found it, wasn't it! You'd better hustle back with it, too, for they said they'd be back about eleven. They went to Vineyard Haven." "It's all well enough to say hustle back with it," replied Perry morosely, "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 and night. Got anything to eat on board?" Cas found some cookies and these, with a glass of water, raised Perry's spirits. "Farewell," he said feelingly, as he shoved off again. "I die for my country." "Did you fellows have any trouble finding this place yesterday?" asked Cas 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 and didn't have any trouble at all finding it. But then we've got a navigator on our boat. So long!" Perry discovered that rowing was raising a blister on each palm and that his arms were getting decidedly tired. The trouble with a dingey, he decided, was that while it might do excellently as a bathtub, it was certainly never meant for rowing. The oars were so short that the best strokes he was capable of sent the boat ahead scarcely more than three or four feet, and, being almost as broad as it was long, the tender constantly showed a tendency to go any way but straight ahead. While he had been aboard the _Follow Me_ the fog had again taken on its amber hue and now was unmistakably thinning out. But it was still thick enough to hide objects thirty feet away and Perry couldn't for the life of him be certain that he was sending his craft toward the beach. To be sure he had started out in the general direction of the shore, as indicated by Cas, but there was always the possibility that he was rowing stronger with one oar than the other. He strove to curb that tendency and fancied he was succeeding, but when, after being afloat a good quarter of an hour, he still failed to see land or hear the break of waves on the beach he was both puzzled and annoyed. The sun pierced the mist hotly and he was soon panting and perspiring. He heartily wished that he had never agreed to accompany Han on the search for eggs. Presently he rested on his oars, and as he did so he heard voices quite close. He called. "Hello, there! Where's the beach?" "Here," was the answer. He rowed on and in another minute land came abruptly out of the fog. Two blurred forms resolved themselves into men as Perry beached the dingey and tiredly dropped the oars. The men came toward him and proved, on nearer acquaintance, to be middle-aged and apparently natives. "Quite a fog," drawled one of them. "What boat you from, sir?" "The _Adventurer_." Perry viewed the immediate foreground with misgiving. The beach looked more abrupt than he recalled it. "What beach is this?" he inquired. "Well, I don't know as it's got any name exactly. What beach was you lookin' 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 had directed him wrong. Presently the true explanation came to him. The tide had turned between the time the _Follow Me's_ crowd had gone ashore and the time that Perry had reached that boat, and Cas had not allowed for the fact that the cruiser had swung around! "Well," he said wearily, "I guess 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 off fast." Out of sight of the men Perry again laid his oars down and reached behind him for the can of milk. It was rather warm, but it tasted good for all of that. Then, putting the wooden stopper back in place, he once more took up his task. Perhaps he might have been rowing around that harbour yet had not the fog suddenly disappeared as if by magic. Wisps of it remained here and there, but even as he watched them, they curled up and were burned into nothingness like feathers in a fire. He found

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