rvice to the mainland. Rick flew the scientists to Newark
Airport when they had to catch planes, or he flew to Whiteside for
groceries, or into New York to pick up parts and supplies. The houseboat
could not be used in the same way, but he was sure he could get its
price back by renting it to summer visitors to the New Jersey area. He
had repainted it in two shades of green with a white top, and had made a
few other improvements.

Before renting the boat, however, he intended to have an extended
houseboat vacation. He and Scotty had left Spindrift Island, headed
south into Manasquan Inlet, and then sailed into the inland waterway. By
easy stages--the houseboat could make only ten miles an hour--they had
moved down the waterway into Delaware Bay, up the Delaware River,
through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and into Chesapeake Bay. Now,
some twenty miles south of Annapolis, the boys were nearing Steve's
summer cottage.

Rick's parents, with Barby and Jan, were now on their way to Wallops
Island rocket range operated by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Hartson Brant had business there in connection with
instruments the Spindrift group of scientists had designed for measuring
solar X rays. The instruments would be launched in rockets. Wallops
Island was near Chincoteague, Virginia, just across the
Maryland-Virginia border on the long peninsula called "The Eastern
Shore" that runs between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. By car,
Wallops was less than two hours from Steve's summer cottage.

As soon as his business was concluded, Hartson Brant planned to drive to
Steve's, where the Brants and the two girls would join Rick and Scotty
for a vacation on the houseboat. There was plenty of room. The
_Spindrift_ was thirty feet long and ten feet wide, and had two cabins.
Four could sleep in the forward cabin, and two amidships where the
galley, dinette, and bath were located. Steve had agreed to drive the
Brant car to Spindrift on his next trip to New York. The houseboat, with
the full clan aboard, would travel leisurely back to the home island.

Rick was delighted with the arrangements. The Brants--and that included
Scotty, who had become one of them after his discharge from the United
States Marine Corps--were a close-knit family whose members enjoyed
doing things together. Rick considered Jan Miller, Barby's dearest
friend, a welcome addition to the party.

"Range light ahead," Scotty said.

Ri