"Just make yourselves perfectly at home," answered Betty. "This trip
is for fun and pleasure, and, as far as possible, we are to do just as
we please. You don't mind; do you, Aunt Kate?"
"Not in the least, my dear, as long as you don't sink," and the
chaperone smiled indulgently.
"This boat won't sink," declared Betty, with confidence. "It has
water-tight compartments. Uncle Amos had them built purposely."
"It certainly is a beautiful boat-- beautiful," murmured Mollie,
looking about as she pulled and straightened her middy blouse. "And it
was so good of you, Bet, to ask us on this cruise."
"Why, that's what the boat is for-- for one's friends. We are all
shipmates now."
"'Strike up a song, here comes a sailor,'" chanted Grace, rather
indistinctly, for she was, as usual, eating a chocolate.
The girls, standing there on the little depressed deck, their hair
tastefully arranged, topped by natty little caps, with their sailor
suits of blue and white, presented a picture that more than one turned
to look at. The Gem was near the shore, along which ran a
main-traveled highway, and there seemed to be plenty of traffic this
morning.
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