The Dorrance Domain Part 29

Bob Irwin was a big, jolly-looking boy, of about seventeen or eighteen, and his smile was so broad and comprehensive that the Dorrances felt acquainted at once.

"Indeed we have plenty of room," said Dorothy, answering young Irwin's greeting; "and we're very glad to have you both,--and your boat too,"

she added, still looking with a sort of fascination at the trim little affair.

"She is a jolly little craft," said Bob Irwin, frankly; "I've only had her a few weeks. I named her _Shooting Star_, because she goes like one.

We came all the way up from Jersey City by the ca.n.a.l."

"All the way!" exclaimed Lilian; "what fun you must have had coming through the locks!"

"Well yes,--but there were so many of them. The planes were worse, though; _Shooting Star_ didn't take to those kindly at all. However, we're here; and if you'll keep us, we'll all have a good deal of fun on this lake."

"I didn't know you could come all the way by ca.n.a.l," said Leicester.

"Are they willing to open the locks for you?"

"Oh, Bob's uncle is a Grand High Mogul or something in the ca.n.a.l company, and he gave us a permit. I tell you it was great fun; the boat goes like a greased arrow."

"Would you like to go for a little spin around the lake, now, all of you?" asked Bob.

"No,--not now," said Dorothy, looking at her watch. "We'd love to, but it is too near dinner-time for us to go now. You know, as hotel proprietors, we have duties to attend to at scheduled hours; and we must be found at our posts."

Though said with apparent carelessness, this was really a brave bit of self-denial on Dorothy's part. For she was eager to try the pretty boat, and, too, there was nearly a half hour before her presence at the hotel was actually necessary.

But she had learned by experience that to go out on the lake was a proceeding which could not be accurately timed, and she knew that her duty pointed towards keeping on the safe side. Beside this, she must have another room put in readiness, for she had expected only Jack.

"But I _do_ want to go out in the motor-boater," cried Fairy, dancing around the dock, and waving her arms. "Will you take us some other time, Mr. Bob?"

"Indeed I will," said Bob, heartily; "and anyway, it's just as well to take our traps up now, and get settled."

"Hickox is your man," said that long individual, suddenly interrupting his own investigation of the marvelous boat. "Hickox'll cart your truck up the hill. Where might it be?"

"Here you are," and Bob sprang into the _Shooting Star_ and tossed out three suit cases and a lot of odds and ends of luggage. "But we fellows can carry them up."

"No, sir, no, sir; Hickox'll look after things. It'll be all right."

Jack laughed at the familiar phrases, and Bob Irwin looked on with amus.e.m.e.nt while Mr. Hickox stowed the things in his queer-looking cart.

"And this is for you and your sisters, Miss Dorothy," said Bob, as he emerged with a final parcel.

There was no mistaking the contents of the neatly tied up box of candy; but it was of such a size that it nearly took the girls' breath away.

"Oh, thank you," cried Dorothy, dimpling with smiles. "I haven't had a speck of New York candy since I've been here. And the Woodville gum-drops are so highly colored and so stiff inside, that they're not a bit of fun."

"They were made summer before last, too," said Leicester; "they ought to be sold as antiques."

"A whole big box of candy for our very own!" cried Fairy; "oh, that's better than the promoter-boat, or whatever you call it. And part of the candy is _my_ very own, isn't it, Mr. Bob?"

"Yes, indeed; to do whatever you like with."

"Then I shall give half of my share to Mrs. Hickox. She'll be _so_ surprised. I don't believe she ever saw any real choklits or b.u.t.ter-cuppers."

Leicester carried the precious box, and the six children climbed the steps to the Dorrance Domain. Naturally, Fairy reached the top first, and ran up the veranda steps, shouting, "Oh, grannymother! we've got two new boarders, and they came in an automobile-ship, and they brought a bushel of candy, real splendiferous New York candy,--and his name is Bob!"

Grandma Dorrance had always liked Leicester's friend Jack, and she willingly extended her welcome to the pleasant-faced Bob.

The two boys were a decided addition to the gayety of the Dorrance Domain.

And the _Shooting Star_ proved to be an equally desirable adjunct.

Instead of rowing over to Dolan's Point each morning for the marketing, or harnessing old Dobbin and driving there, the swift little motor-boat did the errand in less than half the time, and was moreover a pleasure and delight.

Besides this there were merry excursions on the lake in the afternoons and evenings.

One day, when they had started out immediately after luncheon, and, owing to Mr. Black's expected arrival, were to have a late dinner, the six children made an exploring tour of the whole lake.

"I want to find out," said Bob, as they started off, "what feeds this lake. There must be several inlets and some of them large ones. A lake nine miles long has got to be fed by something."

"This lake is so tame it would eat out of your hand," said Leicester.

"Even so, _I_ wouldn't want to feed it," said Dorothy; "my present array of table boarders is quite enough for me, thank you."

"There _is_ an inlet," said Lilian, "just this side of Dolan's Point.

The one that has the floating bridge across it, you know."

"But that isn't enough to make any impression on this big lake,"

insisted Bob; "there must be two or three arms somewhere, and if there are, we'll find them to-day; for I'm going all around the sh.o.r.es of the lake."

So the _Shooting Star_ shot ahead, and skirted the margin of the lake for miles and miles.

But except the one at Dolan's Point, no inlet of any sort was discovered, and the round trip was completed by a crowd of mystified explorers.

"It's the queerest thing!" said Bob, whose scientific inquiries were prompted by a tenacious mind. "The water in Lake Ponetcong certainly must come from somewhere."

"I think it rains in," said Fairy, with a sage expression. "It hasn't rained much this summer, but it rained a lot when we were in New York, and I s'pose the water just stayed in."

"I think it just was here from the beginning," said Lilian, "and somehow it never got away."

"That would do for some lakes," said Dorothy; "but here, they're always letting it out through the locks; and it does seem as if it would have to be filled up again, some way."

That evening the children put the puzzling question to Mr. Faulkner. He was a great favorite with the crowd of young people, and though a scientific man, he was capable of making explanations that were entirely comprehensible to their youthful minds.

They were all interested, though perhaps Bob Irwin was more especially so, in learning that Lake Ponetcong was fed entirely by springs in its bed.

This phrase pleased the Dorrance children very much, as their sense of humor was touched by what they chose to call the spring-bed of the lake.

But Bob was more seriously interested, and listened attentively to Mr.

Faulkner's description of what was an unusual, though not unprecedented phenomenon.

Sometimes Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner accompanied them on their motor-boat trips; sometimes, too, Mr. and Mrs. Black went; but the Van Arsdale ladies refused to be persuaded to risk their lives in any such mysterious contrivance.