wide-open ports and
doors made the cabins like sleeping porches--ate heartily, got enough
exercise to keep them lean and hungry and became tanned with sun and
wind to the colour of light mahogany. Khaki trousers, sleeveless shirts
and rubber-soled canvas shoes made up their ordinary attire, although
for shore visits they "dolled up" remarkably. Those early morning baths
were fine appetisers, as will be understood by the reader who has had
experience of the water along the Maine coast, and the number of eggs
and slices of crisp bacon that came off the alcohol stove would sound
like a fairy tale if told. At Camden the two cruisers lay side by side,
with just enough room between to allow them to swing, and by keeping the
tenders alongside the gangways it was only a momentary task to ferry
from one boat to the other. In consequence the two crews mingled a good
deal and it was no unusual thing for one breakfast table to be thronged
while the other was half empty of a morning. When the boys got tired of
swimming they simply climbed over the rail of the nearer craft and,
after partly drying themselves, went down to breakfast. As getting dry
was a somewhat perfunctory proceeding, the linoleum in the forward cabin
was covered with pools of salt water by the time the last platter of
bacon and eggs was empty.

Many friends were made and the boys spent more time on shore than
aboard. There was tennis to be played, for one thing, and Phil, Steve
and Joe were all dabsters at that game. And then there was a big,
freckle-faced youth named Globbins who spent most of his waking hours in
the driver's seat of a high-powered roadster automobile and who ran the
fellows many miles over the roads and was never, seemingly, more
contented than when every available inch of the car was occupied. Its
normal capacity was three, but by careful packing it was possible to get
seven in, on or about it. In return, Globbins was entertained aboard the
_Adventurer_ and given a thirty-mile cruise one evening, but it was easy
to see that he wasn't really enjoying himself and that his hands fairly
ached for the feel of that corrugated wheel of the roadster. They had
such a jolly time at Camden that they promised faithfully to stop there
again on the return voyage, and really meant to keep the promise when
they chugged out of the harbour one crisp morning and turned the
cruisers' bows eastward for the run across Penobscot Bay.

They lazed that day, for, as Ste