coming quite sad in a cheerful way. In
view of their bereavement, they decided to have luncheon at a hotel and
during that meal recovered their spirits. More sight-seeing followed,
but the day was a hot one and by half-past three they had had enough and
so returned to the landing and pulled back to the cruiser. Steve, who
had supplied himself with yesterday's New York and Boston papers,
pre-empted a seat on the bridge deck and stretched himself out on it,
his legs crooked over the railing. The others found places in the shade
as best they could and talked and watched for the _Follow Me_ and
listened to occasional snatches of news from Steve. There was
practically no breeze and the afternoon was uncomfortably hot even under
the awning. Joe finally solved the difficulty of keeping cool by
disappearing below and presently re-emerging in his swimming trunks and
dropping overboard. That set the fashion, and they all went in save
Steve, who was too absorbed in his papers to know whether he was warm or
not. The _Follow Me_ came up the harbour just before five and tooted a
greeting as she swung around to a berth near the _Adventurer_. The
fellows, who were still in bathing attire, swam across to her, and very
shortly their ranks were increased by just half a dozen more. The sight
of Steve's feet hanging over the canvas was too much for Perry and he
yielded to temptation. Swimming up very quietly he deftly pulled off one
of Steve's "sneakers" and, in defiance of the owner's protests, they
played ball with it until the inevitable happened and it sank out of
sight before Wink Wheeler could dive for it. "Brownie" said then that
Steve might as well let them have the other one, since one shoe was no
use to him, but Steve's reply was not only non-compliant but actually
insulting in its terms. He took off the other "sneaker" and laid on it.

That bath left them feeling both refreshed and hungry and Ossie had a
hard time finding enough for them to eat. Perry described the
astonishment of some Plymouth fisherman when he opened a codfish some
fine day and discovered a rubber-soled shoe inside. "You'll read all
about it in the paper, Steve, and won't you laugh!" he added.

Steve, who had been forced to don a pair of leather shoes, didn't seem
to anticipate any great amount of amusement, however, and suggested that
it would be a gentlemanly act if Perry would hie himself to a store and
purchase a pair of number 8 "sneakers," a suggestion wh