t!"

But Harry Stanton's cruising launch was no lemon. It proved to be
staunch and solid. There wasn't a rotten plank in her. Her sorry
appearance was merely the superficial shabbiness which comes from disuse
and this the boys had neither the time nor the money to remedy; but the
hull and the engine were good.

To the latter Roy devoted himself, for he knew something of gas engines
by reason of the two automobiles at his own house. They made a list of
the things they needed, took another hike into Nyack and came back laden
with material and provisions. Roy poured a half-gallon or so of kerosene
into each of the two cylinders and left it over night. The next morning
when he drained it off the wheel turned over easily enough. A set of
eight dry cells, some new wiring, a couple of new plugs, a little
session with a pitted coil, a little more gas, a little less air, a
little more gas, and finally the welcome first explosion, so dear to the
heart of the motor-boatist, rewarded Roy's efforts of half a day.

"Stop it! Stop it!" shrieked Pee-wee from outside. "I hung the paint
can on the propeller! I'm getting a green shower bath!"

He poked his head over the combing, his face, arms and clothing
bespattered with copper paint.

"Never mind, kiddo," laughed Roy, "It's all in the game. She runs like a
dream. Step a little closer, ladies and gentlemen, and view the leopard
boy. Pee-wee, you're a sight! For goodness' sakes, get some sandpaper!"

The two days of working on the _Good Turn_ were two days of fun. It was
not necessary to caulk her lower seams for the dampness of the marsh had
kept them tight, and the seams above were easy. They did not bother
about following the water-line and painting her free-board white; a coat
of copper paint over the whole hull sufficed. They painted the sheathing
of the cockpit a common-sense brown, "neat but not gaudy," as Roy said.
The deck received a coat of an unknown color which their friend, the
sheriff, brought them saying he had used it on his chicken-coop. The
engine they did in aluminum paint, the fly-wheel in a gaudy red, and
then they mixed what was left of all the paints.

"I bet we get a kind of blackish white," said Pee-wee.

"I bet it's green," said Tom.

But it turned out to be a weak silvery gray and with this they painted
the cabin, or rather half the cabin, for their paint gave out.

They sat until long after midnight in the little cabin after their first
day's work,