piece before school, if we get up early enough.
That's four hours apiece, or eight hours a day. We certainly ought to get
it finished and painted inside of ten days."

"Sure," replied Lew. "We'll have her done all right. And we'll have just
about the finest boat in town."

"And I reckon we'll have just about the finest trip ever," went on
Charley. "If we start right after school closes for the Easter vacation we
can row up-stream that afternoon as far as Hillman's Grove, and camp there
for the night. That will give us almost half a day's extra time. Then we
can reach our old camping ground the next day and get the tent up and our
wood cut and maybe even catch some fish before dark. We'll have everything
ready so we can jump right into the boat and pull out the minute school is
over."

"Sure," assented Lew. Then, after a moment's pause, he added, "Ain't it a
shame none of the other members of the Wireless Patrol can go along? We'll
miss 'em, particularly Roy. And now that he's wireless man on the
<i>Lycoming</i>, he'll probably never go on another trip with the Camp Brady
Patrol."

"It's too bad for us, but mighty nice for Roy," said Charley. "Just think
of being the wireless man on a great ocean steamship when you're only
nineteen. He's made for life. Gee! I wish I knew what I am going to do."

"I know how you feel, Charley. Maybe something will turn up so that you
won't need to go into the factory after all. But here we are at the
lumber-yard. Let's get the boards and begin our boat at once. We'll have a
good time this vacation, no matter what happens afterward."

"Well, boys, what can I do for you?" inquired the lumber dealer, as
Charley and Lew approached him.

"We want one hundred feet of the lightest and best boards you have,"
replied Charley. "We are going to build a boat and we want it to be strong
but light, so that the two of us can handle it."

"White pine would be just the thing for you," replied the dealer, "but I
haven't a foot of it in the place and can't get any. I have some fine
cedar boards that would make a good light boat. Just come over to this
pile of lumber." And he led the way across the yard.

"That will suit us all right if it's wide enough," said Charley. "We want
foot boards."

"Well, that's what these are. And a good inch thick, too. They're mighty
good boards. Hardly a knot in 'em. We don't see much lumber like that
nowadays."

"They'll do all right," assented Charley, after exa