The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest Part 18

"True-Treds! True-Treds--Sis-boom ma!"

They shouted the call till every last one had climbed into the "pit" of the graceful sailing vessel, and like a st.u.r.dy strong crew they appeared; the scouts in their reliable khaki, and the captain and mate in their shining white duck, with the regulation yachting cap, jauntily but securely set on their capable heads.

From the tips of the mast "Old Glory" floated to the stiff breeze, the ceremony of raising the colors having been complied with according to Girl Scout formality. Cleo, as acting captain, pulled the slender rope, while the girls stood at attention and in salute.

"You may float the boat flag now," said Captain Mae. "Be sure you adjust it right side up."

Grace leaned over the stern to affix the little marine emblem in its place, and soon the sail swung out on its halyard, and when the mate, Eugenia, cut loose from sh.o.r.e, the Blowell lost no time in demonstrating the power of its name.

"Oh, how delightful," gasped Margaret. "And we thought canoeing was fun."

"It's just glorious," exhaled Julia. "Now, aren't you glad I changed our plans?"

"Tickled to pieces," declared Cleo. "I think this is the only worthwhile sort of airship because it combines the beauty of air and water."

They were seated in the trunk cabin watching with deep interest Captain Mae as she set the sail, letting it out gradually as it took the wind, but being careful not to throw too much canva.s.s in the face of the stiff breeze that seemed to sweep from the deep azure sky, as if glad of its own release after the long spell of hateful weather.

Mae was at the tiller guiding the steering gear to fix the vessel in its course, on the smooth, blue waters.

For some time the handling of the craft occupied the visitors' entire attention, but presently they undertook to move around.

"This is where the Blowell beats your Indian Queen canoe, Louise," said Cleo. "You can move here without upsetting."

"But we _could_ really upset in this boat," Louise reminded them.

"Although, I am not fearing any such catastrophe."

"Isn't it invigorating," Margaret added to the continuous praise song.

"I like the life of this motion, yet it hasn't the least spilly effect."

Thus they enthused until sh.o.r.e points of interest broke in on the marine eulogy.

"Just see us leave Weasle Point behind," remarked Cleo, with a rather prolonged look at the green speck as it drifted away.

"Wonder if Kitty is over there?" said Grace.

"And Bentley," added Julia, not to deprive her chums of their usual joke that she never forgot Bentley.

"And my Uncle Pete," insisted Grace. "Do you know, girls, Captain Dave says he was seriously stunned by that storm?"

"Poor old man! And to think we can't even bring him a thermos of chicken broth," deplored Louise.

The sail boat was gliding over the water, proudly as the clouds themselves drifted overhead. The Westbrook girls were allowing their visitors full scope of the graceful craft, but objected definitely to Grace taking a ride in the little dory that raced behind. Grace thought such a feat would be a genuine lark, but Captain Mae reminded her that the Sandy Hook Bay was not the placid little Glimmer Lake she had been accustomed to sporting upon.

Down in the cabin a real tea was served at four o'clock, and if automobiling is conducive to real appet.i.tes, sailing leads to the port of hunger-pangs; and as an alleviative Orange Pekoe, cheese, cookies, lettuce sandwiches, with peanut b.u.t.ter and other conserves, can be heartily recommended, according to the Log of the Blowell, as inscribed that day by the True Treds.

"All hands on the deck," ordered Cleo, in mock severity, when cracker tins and tea cups were being worked to the point of refined cruelty.

"Aye, aye, sir," replied Grace, being first to reach deck.

"Shall we sing 'Starboard watch ahoy!' or 'Little Jack'?" Margaret asked.

"No, let's sing 'Sailing!'" suggested Julia.

"Who knows any of the words?" inquired Louise. "The t.i.tle sounds appropriate, but it would take more words to fill out a tune!"

"Starboard watch ahoy! Starboard watch ahoy! And who can feel-e-e-eel, while on the blue the vessel ke-e-ell." This was Cleo's contribution done in all sharps, and as Louise warned them, the t.i.tle wouldn't do for a girl-sized song.

"No, that's too old," objected Helen. "It's out of print. Try 'Sailing.'"

"Sailing, sailing over the stormy sea,"

"The second line is just the same and ought to end in B"

"Full many a stormy wind shall blow o-o-oh when"

"Jack comes home--again!"

Thus ended Helen, and as a song "Sailing" was considered a first-rate joke.

"Now," said Margaret, in a plain everyday speaking voice, "I'm not going to spoil my 'Little Jack,' with any such parody as that. I'm going to recite him."

"Hear! Hear!" ordered Captain Mae.

"I'm not sure I can recall all of it, but it's a pretty story--so--"

"Yes, Margy, a story is better than a song, tell it," begged Louise, settling down deeper in the leather cushions.

"But I may have to hum it, to get in rhyme," soliloquized the narrator.

"Yes, that's better still," cut in Cleo. "Give us the hum."

"Do be quiet, girls, or we will get neither song nor hum nor story,"

said Helen. "Go ahead, Margaret. Tell it your own way, as they say in court trials."

Again Margaret was directed to take up her Little Jack.

"It begins by calling the mates to come around-around-around----"

"The hearth," suggested Julia.

"Hearth on the sea!" cried Margaret in scorn.

"I'll fine the next girl who interrupts," announced Captain Mae. "Go on, Maggie."

"I'll skip the introduction, I have to," Margaret admitted, struggling with a laugh, "but I know these lines:

"It was on the Spanish Main----

"And in a night of rain--then I have to skip again, but you will understand the story," braved Margaret. "The sailors saw something, I just have to insert that clause," she contributed, "then it goes: