IN THE FOG


"We've been going two whole days now," declared Perry, "and we haven't
even glimpsed an adventure." It was Tuesday morning and the two cruisers
were lying side by side in New Bedford harbour. A light drizzle was
falling and even under the awning of the bridge deck everything was
coated with a film of moisture. The _Adventurer_ and the _Follow Me_ had
done just short of a hundred miles yesterday, reaching the present port
at nightfall. They had averaged fifteen miles an hour and neither engine
had missed an explosion all day long. Joe had been rather stuck-up over
the way his engine had performed and had been inclined to take a good
share of the credit to himself. Perry, however, had declared that the
only reason the thing had run was because Joe had left it alone.

"It's lucky for us you're afraid to touch it," said Perry. "If you
weren't we'd have been wallowing around somewhere between here and
Africa two days ago!"

It had been too late to go ashore for sight-seeing last evening, and
they had put it off until morning. And now it was drizzling in a steady,
whole-hearted way that promised to make sight-seeing a miserable
business. Some of the crew of the _Follow Me_ had come aboard to discuss
plans and the question was whether to remain in harbour and await better
weather or to set out again and run as far as Martha's Vineyard. Perry
was all for action, and he had the support of numerous others, but Steve
pointed out that running the cruiser in such weather in strange waters
was not over pleasant. "It's all well enough for the rest of you, for
all you have to do is lie around and read, but it's another thing to
stand up there at the wheel and keep from running into the landscape!"