"An' that leaves you rockin' like a baby in a cradle 'til you can get the wheel free." 

 "Uh-huh." 

 There was a moment of silence. 

 "It can't be much of a stunt tossin' round in a choppy sea like as if you was a chip on the waves," commented Jan Eldridge with a commiserating grin. 

 "'Tain't." 

 "What do you do when you find yourself in a fix like that?" he inquired with interest. 

 "Do?" reiterated Zenas Henry.  "What a question! What would any fool do? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the stern of the boat an' claw the eel-grass off the wheel with a gaff." 

 Janoah burst into a derisive shout. 

 "Oh, my eye!" he exclaimed.  "So that's the way you do it, eh? Don't talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a leg-o'-mutton sail in her is good enough fur me. How 'bout you, Willie?" 

 No reply was forthcoming. 

 "I say, Willie," repeated Jan in a louder tone, "that these new fangled motor-boats, with their noise an' their smell, ain't no match fur a good clean dory." 

 Willie came out of his trance just in time to catch the final clause of the sentence. 

 "Who ever saw a clean dory in Wilton?" 

 Jan faltered, abashed. 

 "Well, anyhow," he persisted, "in my opinion, clean or not, a straight wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in the same breath with a mix-up of stale fish an' gasoline." 

 Zenas Henry bridled. 

 "You don't buy a motor-boat to smell of," he said tartly.  "You seem to forget it's to sail in." 

 "But if the eel-grass holds you hard an' fast in one spot most of the time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan.  "'Pears to me you're just adrift an' goin' nowheres a good part of the time." 

 

 Prev. P 18/181 next