"
Aunt Mary went downstairs and was greeted with loud acclamations. The
breakfast party broke up at once and, while Janice phoned for cabs, Aunt
Mary's quartette of escorts sought hats, coats, etcetera. After that they
all sallied forth and took their places as joyfully as ever.
It was quite a long drive to where "Lady Belle" had been brought up, and
they had to stop once to lay in two or three pounds of current literature.
"Do you read mostly?" asked Aunt Mary.
"It's best to be on the safe side," said Clover vaguely.
Then they entered the tangle of docks and express wagons and obstacles in
general and Mitchell had great difficulty in finding where his launch had
been taken to meet them.
But at last they got Aunt Mary down a flight of very slippery steps and
into a boat whose everything was labeled "Lady Belle," and Mitchell said
something and they cast loose and were off.
"Seems rather a small yacht," said Aunt Mary, glancing cheerfully about.
"I ain't surprised that you'd rather come in nights."
"Bless your heart, Aunt Mary," shrieked Jack, "this isn't the yacht, this
is the way we get to her."
"Oh," said Aunt Mary blankly.
"That's the yacht," yelled Burnett, "that white one with the black smoke
coming out and the sail up."
"What are they getting up steam for?" asked Clover. "The time to get up
steam is when you get down sails generally."
"They aren't getting up steam," said Mitchell, "they're getting up dinner.
It looks like a lot of smoke because of the shadow on the sail.
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