ow much he would yet owe that vagrant.

CHAPTER III

THE DIFFICULTIES OF GETTING UNDER WAY.

How that week flew! How busy was everybody concerned in the cruise of
the wonderful Water Lily!

Early on the morning after his arrival, Jim Barlow repaired to Halcyon
Point, taking an expert engineer with him, as Aunt Betty had insisted,
and from that time till the Water Lily sailed he spent every moment of
his waking hours in studying his engine and its management. At the end
he felt fully competent to handle it safely and was as impatient as
Dorothy herself to be off; and, at last, here they all were waiting on
the little pier for the word of command or, as it appeared, for one
tardy arrival.

From her own comfortable steamer-chair, Aunt Betty watched the
gathering of the company and wondered if anybody except Dolly could
have collected such a peculiar lot of contrasts. But the girl was
already "calling the roll" and she listened for the responses as they
came.

"Mrs. Elisabeth Cecil Somerset Calvert?"

"Present!"

"Mrs. Charlotte Bruce?"

"Here."

"Mabel Bruce?"

"Present!"

"Elsa Carruthers?"

"Oh! I--don't know--I guess--." But a firm voice, her father's,
answered for the hesitating girl, whose timidity made her shrink from
all these strangers.

"Aurora Blank? Gerald Blank?"

"Oh, we're both right on hand, don't you know? Pop's pride rather
stood in the way, but--Present!"

"Mr. Ephraim Brown-Calvert?"

The old man bowed profoundly and answered:

"Yeah 'm I, li'l miss!"

"That ends the passengers. Now for the crew. Captain Jack Hurry?"

Nobody responded. Whoever owned the rapid name was slow to claim it.
But Dorothy smiled and proceeded. "Cap'n Jack" was a surprise of her
own. He would keep for a time.

"Engineer James Barlow?"

"At his post!"

"Master Engineer, John Stinson?"

"Present!" called that person, laughing. He was Jim's instructor and
would see them down the bay and into the quiet river where they would
make their first stop.

"Mrs. Chloe Brown, assistant chef and dishwasher?"

"Yeah 'm I?" returned the only one of Aunt Betty's household-women who
dared to trust herself on board a boat "to lib." She was Methuselah's
mother and as his imposing name was read, answered for him; while the
"cabin boy and general utility man" ducked his woolly head beneath her
skirts, for once embarrassed by the attention he received.

"Miss Calvert, did you know that you make the thirte