in the water with the aid of two or three men from the shop.

He took a run of a mile or so up the river, and then back to the shop,
greatly satisfied with the result, having fitted up a boat for less
than half what a craft of the cheapest kind would have cost him had
he bought it at retail.

He tied his boat up, covered it over and told the foreman that he
intended to leave it there for a day or so, and would then call for it.

"Looks to me as if you had a pretty good boat, Mr. Sheldon," said the
foreman. "I saw you going up the river. You made a good ten-mile
gait, I shouldn't wonder."

"Yes, and I can do better yet," said Jack, smiling. "I was just
warming her up a bit. She'll do better when she gets seasoned."

All this time Jack had said nothing to Percival about his boat, which
certainly did not look like a made-over affair now that she was
painted and decked over, had her lights and all her appurtenances,
an engine in her hold and a flagstaff at her bow, meaning to give
his friend a surprise.

The day before they were to leave the Academy and go into camp on the
river Percival asked Jack if he had secured his boat yet, and added:

"I have mine, and she is a beauty, cost me three hundred dollars, but
it's worth all that."

"Mine did not cost me a hundred," said Jack, "and she is sixteen feet