Arsdale Spence, and put it in his possession."

"But it may turn out to be a tougher proposition than you imagine,"
Herb remarked. "Perhaps the gentleman has buried himself in the wild
country around that coast town; we can't spend much time hunting all
over creation for him, can we?"

"Of course, we don't expect to do that," Jack quickly responded. "I
only promised to look him up; and if he had gone away, to send the
packet to him by mail, if we could get his present address. But what's
the use crossing a bridge till you get to it? We worry a heap over
things that never happen. Who said he was sleepy?"

"Me," spoke up Nick, who had been yawning at a prodigious rate for the
last half hour. "You see, we didn't get much of a snooze aboard the
old _Wireless_ these two nights. Even at the best, the quarters are
cramped; and if one fellow turns over, it nearly throws his mate out of
his blanket bed."

"Rats!" scoffed George, always ready to stand up for his beloved craft,
even though deep down in his heart he knew that the criticism might be
well founded. "The trouble is, you're such a hefty fellow that you
never just roll over, you _wallow_! Now, when I had Josh for a while
with me, things went much smoother."

"But I didn't go the same way, I'm telling you, George," declared the
tall boy, quickly; "and you needn't try to coax me to change places
with Nick any more. I've tried your boat, and I just don't like it.
I've got to have room to stretch; and after a night aboard the
_Wireless_ I used to feel that I was tied up in a double knot all
right. Nixy, I pass. Once is out for me."

But all of them were sleepy, and it was not long before they went
aboard. There had been some talk of staying ashore; but it frittered
out. Whether it was because of the frolicsome mosquitoes, that had put
in their appearance with the dying out of the breeze; or recollections
of the fearful name by which the stream, was known on the chart and
among men, no one confessed. They dribbled aboard the three boats, and
went about making up their beds for the night in the most
matter-of-fact way possible.

And, truth to tell, they did manage to secure a lot of refreshing sleep
before another dawn came to call them to duty.

After breakfast they left their harbor, in which they had been
storm-bound; and were soon pushing along toward the southeast, where
Lewes, back of Cape Henlopen, lay.

The bay was far from smooth, but by degr