d bathtubs, they had clothes closets, easy
chairs, and writin' desks.

"Excellent!" says she. "But what are those queer overhead pipes for, I
wonder?"

"Must be for the cold-air system Mr. Wade was tellin' me about," says I.

"Oh, yes," adds Old Hickory. "I remember now. This is the boat
Commodore Wade went up the Orinoco in, and he had her fitted for
tropical cruising. How many staterooms in all, did you say, son?"

"Twelve, outside of the crew's quarters," says I.

"Regular floating hotel," says Old Hickory. "We shall not be crowded
for room, Mrs. Hemmingway."

"Then why not ask some of our friends to go with us?" suggests Auntie.
"There are one or two I should like to take along for companionship.
And it will not look so much like an expedition if we make up a
cruising party."

"Very well," says Old Hickory; "that's not a bad idea. We'll decide on
this boat, then?"

Captain Killam tried to point out that the _Agnes_ was a bigger craft
than they needed, and that she didn't look as if she had much speed.
But Auntie had already planned how she could camp comfortable in one of
them suites, and Old Hickory had discovered that the yacht sported a
wireless outfit. Hanged if each one of 'em didn't talk like they'd
found the _Agnes_ all by themselves, or had her built to order! I got
about as much credit as if I hadn't been along at all.

I felt a little better about that two hours later, when I'd hunted up
Ollie at his club, shoved a thousand dollar check at him, and got his
name on a charter agreement.

"I say, you know," says Ollie, "awfully good of you to do this."

"I'm like that all the time," says I, pocketin' my fifty commission.
"I'll rent the _Agnes_ out for you any old day, so long as I don't have
to go battin' around on her myself."

Course, if it was just a case of sailin' down to Coney and back, or
maybe runnin' up the Hudson as far as Yonkers, I'd take a chance. But
this pikin' right out past Sandy Hook, and then goin' on for days and
days, leavin' Broadway further behind every turn of the shaft--that's
different. You're liable to get so far away.

Then, there's that wabbly feeling that comes over you. Say, I had it
once, when I was out in an old lobster boat off the coast of Maine, the
time I used my summer vacation chasin' up where Vee was visitin'. I
had it good and plenty, too, and didn't have to go more'n a couple of
miles to get it, either. But think of bein' that way for a co