I think shell be just crazy to go! declared Agnes. Come on, lets go right away and find out.
But we must wait for Mr. Howbridge to come back. He told us to.
Well, then well say were already living on board, said Agnes. Oh, wont it be fun to eat on a houseboat! and she danced off to the dining room, took her seat at the table, and exclaimed: Ill have a steak, rare, with French fried potatoes, plenty of gravy and a cup of tea and dont forget the pie à la mode .
Tess and Dot laughed and Ruth smiled. They then went all over the boat again, with the result that they grew more and more enthusiastic about the trip. And when Mr. Howbridge and Neale came back in the automobile a little later, beaming faces met them.
Well, what about it, Minerva? Mr. Howbridge asked Ruth. Are you going to act as caretakers for the boat to help me settle the estate?
Since you put it that way, as a favor, I can not refuse, she answered, giving him a swift smile. But, as I told the girls, it will depend on Mrs. MacCall.
You leave her to me, laughed the lawyer. Ill recite one of Bobby Burns poems, and if that doesnt win her over nothing will. Neale, do you think you can manage that motor?
Im sure of it, said the boy. It isnt the same kind I had to run before, but I can get the hang of it all right.
Is there any news about your father? asked Ruth, glancing from her guardian to the boy.
Nothing very definite, answered the lawyer. We found Hank Dayton, and in spite of his rough and ragged clothes I discovered him to be a reliable fellow. He told us all he knew about the rumor of Mr. ONeil having returned from the Klondike, and I am going to start an inquiry, with newspaper advertising and all that. And I may as well tell you that I have engaged this same Hank Dayton to drive the mules that will draw the Bluebird on the canal part of the trip.
Oh! exclaimed Agnes. I thought Neale said this man was a tramp!
He is, in appearance, said Mr. Howbridge, with a smile. A person can not wear an evening suit and drive canal mules. But Hank seems to be a sterling chap at the bottom, and with Neale and Mrs. MacCall to keep him straight, you will have no trouble.
It is really necessary, he went on, to have some man who understands the canal, the mules, and the locks to look after the boat, and I think this Dayton will answer. He has just finished a trip, and so Neale and I hired him. It will be well for Neale to keep in touch with him, too, for through Hank we may get more news of Mr. ONeil. And now, if you have sufficiently looked over the Bluebird , we may as well go back.
It would be a good while before I could see enough of her! exclaimed Agnes. Im just in love with the craft, and I know we shall have a delightful summer on her. Only the trip will be over too soon, Im afraid.
There is no necessity for haste, the lawyer assured her. The purchaser of the boat does not want her until fall, and you may linger as long as you like on the trip.
Good! exclaimed Agnes.
A family council was held the next day at which Mr. Howbridge laid all the facts before Mrs. MacCall. At first the Scotch housekeeper would not listen to any proposal for the trip on the water. But when Ruth and Agnes had spoken of the delights of the boat, and when the housekeeper had personally inspected the Bluebird , she changed her mind.
Though I never thought, in my old age, Id come to bein a houseboat keeper, she chuckled. But tis all in the days work. Ill gang with ye ma lassies. A canal boat is certainly more staid than an ice-boat, and I went alang with ye on that.
Hurray! cried Agnes, unable to restrain her joy. All aboard for Lake Macopic!
The door opened and Aunt Sarah Maltby came in.
I thought I heard some one calling, she said anxiously.
It was Agnes, explained Ruth. Shes so excited about the trip.
Fish? What fish? It isnt Friday, is it? asked the old lady, who was getting rather deaf.
No, Auntie dear, I didnt say fish I said trip . And Ruth spoke more loudly. We are going to make a trip on a houseboat for our summer vacation. Would you like to come along?
Aunt Sarah Maltby shook her head, as Tess pulled out a chair for her.
Im getting too old, my dear, to go traipsing
off over the country in one of those flying machines.
Its a houseboat not a flying machine, Agnes explained.
Well, its about the same, I reckon, returned the old lady. No, Ill stay at home and look after things at the Corner House. Itll need somebody.
Yes, theres no doubt of that, Ruth said.
So it was arranged. Aunt Sarah Maltby would stay at home with Linda and Uncle Rufus, while Mrs. MacCall accompanied the Corner House girls on the houseboat.
There was much to be done before the trip could be undertaken, and many business details to arrange, for, as inheritors of the Stower estate, Ruth and her sisters received rents from a number of tenants, some of them in not very good circumstances.
And we must see that they will want nothing while we are gone, Ruth had said.
It was part of her self-imposed duties to play Lady Bountiful to some of the poorer persons who rented Uncle Peter Stowers tenements.