"I bet he's thinking of his son," said he.
"Wonder how he died," said Tom.
CHAPTER VIII
BON VOYAGE!
"Now, you see," said Pee-wee, "how a good turn can evolute."
"Can what?" said Tom.
"Evolute."
"It could neverlute with me," observed Roy. "Gee, but we've fallen in
soft! You could have knocked me down with a toothpick. I wonder what our
sleuth friend, the sheriff, will say."
The sheriff said very little; he was too astonished to say much. So were
most of the people of the town. When they heard that "Old Man Stanton"
had given Harry Stanton's boat to some strange boys from out of town,
they said that the loss of his son must have affected his mind. The boys
of the neighborhood, incredulous, went out on the marsh the next day
when the rain held up, and stood about watching the three strangers at
work and marvelling at "Old Man Stanton's" extraordinary generosity.
"Aw, he handed 'em a lemon!" commented the wiseacre. "That boat'll never
run--it won't even float!"
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.
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