The clumsy
looking hull, in which the boys had taken refuge, seemed trim and
graceful now, and Roy was reminded of the fairy story of the ugly
duckling, who was really a swan, but whose wondrous beauty was
unappreciated until it found itself among its own kindred.
"Yes, sir, that's wot I told him, 'cause I've lived on the river here
all my life, ain't I, Bill, an' I know. Yer don't give an automobile no
name, an' yer don't give an airyplane no name, an' yer don't give a
motorcycle nor a bicycle no name, but yer give a boat a name 'cause
she's human. She'll be cranky and stubborn an' then she'll be soft and
amiable as pie--that's 'cause she's human. An' that's why a man'll let a
old boat stan' an' rot ruther'n sell it. 'Cause it's human and it kinder
gets him. You treat her as such, you boys."
"How did Harry Stanton die?" Tom asked.
The man, with a significant motion of his finger toward the lone figure
of the girl, drew nearer and the boys gathered about him.
"The old gent didn' tell ye, hey?"
"Not a word."
"Hmmm--well, Harry was summat older'n you boys, he was gettin' to be a
reg'lar young man. Trouble with him was he didn' know what he wanted.
First off, he must have a horse, 'n' then he must have a boat, so th'
old man, he got him this boat. He's crusty, but he's all to the good,
th' old man is."
"You bet your life he is," said Pee-wee.
"Well, Harry an' Benty Willis--you remember Benty, Bill--him an' Benty
Willis was out in the _Nymph_--that's this here very boat.
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