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got fully started on their St. Lawrence river cruise.

      CHAPTER V – THE GUARDIAN OF THE FLEET

      “Well, here’s the steamboat dock, all right; but I don’t see anything of our boats!” exclaimed George, as he and his five chums came to a full stop close to the local office of the lake line running to Buffalo, Milwaukee and Chicago.

      “Oh! dear me, I hope we don’t have trouble, after all,” started Nick.

      “Here, let up on that misery whine, Buster. Will you ever learn never to squeal till you’re hurt?” said Josh.

      “Well, if you’d lost as much flesh as I have lately, you’d be a nervous wreck too,” replied the fat boy, aggressively.

      “If I’d lost all you say you have, there wouldn’t be anything more of me left than a grease spot, and that’s right!” grinned Josh.

      “What shall we do, Jack?” and Herb turned to the one upon whom they usually depended to steer them clear of the shoals.

      “Well, here’s the office right handy,” replied Jack, smiling. “Suppose we crowd inside, and make the agent give up some information. He ought to know what’s happened to our boats, because we understood they got here safe.”

      “A bully idea, Jack; you’re the goods when it comes to doing the right thing!” Josh remarked.

      Accordingly they fell in line, and rushed into the little office, where a gentlemanly fellow, who was working at some freight accounts, in his shirt sleeves, because of the heat of the day, glanced up in more or less surprise.

      “We’re looking for some motor boats, sir, that arrived on the vessel from the west. They were billed from Milwaukee by your line.”

      As Jack said this the agent smiled.

      “Which one of you wired our Mr. Matthews?” he asked.

      “I did. My name is Jack Stormways,” replied that individual.

      “You gave him authority to turn the three boats over to some party, didn’t you?”

      “Yes, if that party’s name was Mr. Amos Spofford,” Jack replied.

      “All right. We gave them into his keeping. Let me see, that was last Saturday afternoon about one o’clock he was here,” the other went on.

      “But,” Jack remarked, blankly, “we’ve been looking all around, and have seen no sign of our boats on the wharf.”

      “And they couldn’t have flown away like aeroplanes,” put in Josh.

      “I should hardly think so,” laughed the other. “But have you looked beyond the end of the dock, in the water?”

      “No. Do you mean to say Mr. Spofford had the three boats launched?” cried Jack.

      “Well, there was something doing that way, I remember, on Saturday. He had quite a gang of men working under him. That Mr. Spofford seems to be something of a hustler. Over toward that point, boys.”

      They were already trooping across the big dock, as excited as any eager lads could be. And no sooner had they reached a certain point than a series of whoops burst from every throat.

      “There they are, fellows! Don’t they make a bully show, though, the brave little boats? Say, ain’t this like old times again?” cried Nick, as he discovered the three craft anchored close together at a point where they would not be in the way of any steamboat landing.

      “There’s somebody aboard, too!” exclaimed Jack, as a head was poked out of the deck tent of the Comfort, which was the only one of the trio to be thus honored, the others being in cruising trim.

      “That must be Mr. Amos Spofford,” declared Herb; “and he knows a good sleeping boat when he sees it, too; for you notice he’s camped in the Old Reliable.”

      Jack waved his hand, and then called out.

      “We’re coming aboard. Are you Mr. Spofford?”

      “That’s my name. Glad to see you, boys. Come right along. You won’t be fired into the harbor if you try to get aboard!” came back the answering hail.

      “Gee! I wonder if that’s what happened to Jared,” remarked Nick, as the party made for the landing, where a rowboat could be obtained in which to paddle out to the anchored flotilla.

      Every boy had his eyes glued on the boat that, to his mind, represented all that was delightful. Many a happy day and night had they spent aboard these same craft in times that were gone; and the future opened up possibilities just as joyous.

      One by one they climbed aboard the Comfortand shook hands with the jolly old gentleman whom they found there. None of the other boats could have accommodated them as readily as the big launch.

      “Glad you got here safe and sound, boys. I imagine this is Jack Stormways. Introduce me to your chums, please, Jack. Told you not to worry. Camped right here ever since getting your message. Would have stayed a week if necessary, because you see I happen to be an old bachelor, without any family ties. Greatest pleasure I’ve had for many a year. Used to knock about myself, once upon a time, before I took on flesh. And let me tell you, lads, you’ve got the greatest little cruising outfits here I ever set eyes on. In my day we never knew such comforts, any more than we did such bully boats.”

      In this fashion did Mr. Amos Spofford rattle on, for he was a great talker, and a retired lawyer as well. He quite staggered poor Buster by the immensity of his girth; for he was simply tremendous, and no mistake.

      “Gracious!” Nick whispered to Herb, when he found the chance; “you don’t think, now, I’ll ever get to be like that, do you, Herb? Oh, if I thought so I’d starve myself.”

      “Well, it would end your knocking about, just as it did his, so beware!” answered the other; and chuckled to see poor Buster shiver.

      All the time they were in contact with Mr. Amos Spofford Nick could not keep his eyes off the wheezy old lawyer; and every now and then he would shake his head and sigh most dismally. It was really an awful lesson for Buster, as Josh often declared.

      “Then you’ve really enjoyed camping here since Saturday afternoon, sir?” asked Jack, as the party clustered around the guardian of the motor boat fleet.

      “Beyond measure,” came the quick reply. “I haven’t let the boats go unwatched a minute of the time. On Monday I hired a man to stay aboard while I finished up some little business that was pressing. Then I came back in the afternoon with a new supply of grub, and determined to hold the fort. Why, boys, it’s been the happiest days of the last ten years to me. And I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to throw business to the dogs, have a boat like this, only larger, built especially for a heavy man, and take to the water. I thank you for the opportunity you threw in my way for this pleasure.”

      “And on our part we feel that you’ve been mighty kind to us, sir,” said Jack.

      “Don’t mention it. Besides, I’m only too glad to do something for Rube’s boy. He was good to me once upon a time, and helped me get back on my feet.”

      “Perhaps our anxiety was all for nothing though?” remarked George; not because he really believed what he was saying, but hoped it would tempt Mr. Spofford to “open up,” and tell anything he knew.

      The stout lawyer chuckled until he shook like a bowl full of jelly. He reminded Jack of Santa Claus around Christmas time, both with regard to his white beard and the size of his paunch.

      “Ah! that was a chip of the old block that spoke then,” laughed Mr. Spofford, “Rube for all the world; and a born lawyer, too. Follow in the footsteps of your illustrious dad, George, and the world is yours. No, to tell the plain, unvarnished truth, your anxiety waswell placed, I have reason to believe.”

      He looked over the side at the water, and chuckled again.

      “It is pretty wet in there for a fact, boys,” he said, “and when a fellow flops over with all his clothes on, he feels kind of squeamish, I suppose.”

      “Do

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