ng awake on the ship."

"Narrow escape," I said, "hey? If you hadn't taken the book out just
when you did, good night, the ship might have started and good-bye to
my two dollars."

"You crazy Indian," he said.

"And all the time I was saying Jim Hawking was honest and a good friend
and all that, and all the time he had my two bucks."

"Believe me I wouldn't trust that fellow with a postage stamp," Westy
said.

Laugh! Oh, boy, I thought I'd die laughing--and Westy, too.

CHAPTER XXVIII

JOLLYING PEE-WEE

That's the reason I'll never trust a gentle breeze. In books you find
all kinds of nice things about gentle breezes, but look out for them,
that's what I say. Whenever I leave my bathing suit on the grass to dry,
I lay a good big rock on it, you can bet. I'd trust Skinny with a
hundred dollars, I would, and Westy too, but gentle breezes--Nix. They're
so plaguy sly and sneaky like.

Westy and I went and bought a dandy copy of Treasure Island for the
library. It cost us a quarter more than my two dollars, but we should
worry.

Now I have to tell you one other thing that happened before we got
started on our cruise, especially because it has a lot to do with our
cruise.

The next morning we all went back to Northside Woods to tie up the
saplings and drag them over to the river. Then we were going to use
a rowboat and tow them down and maybe float some of them down. I told
you about our old launch, but it's too shallow to use a launch up as
far as Northside Woods.

Illustration #4

"We towed the saplings and started down stream"

All the fellows were there except Skinny, because the doctor made him
stay home on account of being all played out. I bet that doctor had some
scrap with him. One thing sure, Westy and I stuck together. By noontime
we had all the stuff hauled over to the river and some odds and ends of
kindling wood besides, to take in the house-boat. We filled the rowboat
with the small stuff and towed the saplings and started downstream that
way. The tide was running up and it was almost full and we had some job
bucking it. Some of the fellows wanted to wait till it turned and come
down with it. But I said that would be an hour maybe and that if the
tide didn't want to turn and go with us, we should worry.

Now that there wasn't anything left to do, but tow the stuff down, all
the fellows except Westy and I and Pee-wee started to hike it home. We
said we'd take him with us in the boat so