k it was
scarcely possible to see a boat's length ahead.

The boys were all dressed in suits of oil skins under which might have
been seen neat khaki Boy Scout Uniforms. If their jackets had been
exposed one might have distinguished medals that betokened membership in
the Beaver Patrol, Boy Scouts of America. Other insignia indicated to
the initiated that the boys had won distinction and were entitled to the
honors in Seamanship, Life Saving, Stalking and Signaling. On the jacket
of the one addressed as "Jack" were insignia that betokened his rank as
Scout Master and also as Star Scout. These had been won by sheer merit.

All four were manly young fellows of about seventeen and, though young,
their faces gave evidence of alert natures thoroughly reliable and ready
for any emergency.

Their vessel, the Fortuna, appeared fully equal to any task that might
be expected of her. Trimly built and graceful, yet solidly and staunchly
constructed, she rode the waves like a thing of life. Her engines, which
by common consent had been reduced to half speed in deference to the
law, worked perfectly, driving the powerful hull through the water
easily. Just now she met the oncoming waves, driving into them with a
good deal of spray about the bows.

Jack Stanley, Scout Master of the Beaver Patrol of Chicago, Boy Scouts
of America, was Captain of the Fortuna. His father was president of a
bank in Chicago and had requested Jack and his chums to take the Fortuna
from Chicago to Southern waters where they would later on be joined by
the banker for a cruise among the islands and points of interest in that
vicinity. Jack was a fine, manly lad who well deserved the honors
bestowed upon him. His companions were equally clean and worthy young
boys who were members of the Beaver Patrol and who all were devoted to
Jack.

Harry Harvey, an orphan, worked as messenger for one of the large
telegraph companies. He had seen a great deal of life and was far older
than his years. Tom Blackwood worked as an inspector in one of the great
department stores of State Street while Arnold Poysor was an apprentice
in a printing establishment and was possessed of an ambition to become a
great journalist.

Without doubt it would have been difficult to find four more congenial
lads than the crew of the Fortuna. Widely different in their appearance
they still gave one the impression that they all belonged to each other.
There was the same fearless, honest loo