CHAPTER X

AN EXCITING RACE

Eleanor and Miss "Jenny Ann," as the girls seemed inclined to call
their chaperon, had not remained on the houseboat merely to polish the
pots and pans. They had a special surprise and plan of their own on
hand.

It was all very well for Phyllis to dream of a houseboat, with its
decks lined with flowers, and for Madge to draw a beautiful plan of it
on paper. Flowers do not grow except where they are planted.

So it was in order to turn gardeners that Eleanor and Miss Jones stayed
at home. Flowers enough to encircle the deck of a houseboat would cost
almost as much money as the four girls had in their treasury to keep
them supplied with food and coal. But the gently sloping Maryland
fields were abloom with daisies. A farmer's lad could be hired for a
dollar to dig up the daisies and to bring a wagon load of dirt to the
boat. The day before Eleanor had engaged the services of a carpenter
to make four boxes, which exactly fitted the sides of the little upper
deck of the houseboat above the cabin. An hour or so after the girls
departed on their rowing excursion the daisies were brought aboard,
planted, and held up their heads bravely. They were such sturdy, hardy
little flowers that they did not wither with homesickness at the change
in their environment.

But still Eleanor was not entirely satisfied. In Phil's dream and
Madge's picture of the boat vines had drooped gracefully over the sides
of the deck, and Eleanor had no vines to plant. Eleanor had a natural