Perry would
have liked, too, to become the proud possessor of some of the things the
former fellows brought aboard, but Perry's finances were low after he
had paid for that talking machine, and so, with the exception of a new
grey sweater, he had made no additions to his wardrobe. This morning he
had volunteered to go to the basin early and superintend the loading of
ice and water, and now, those things aboard, he was wondering, a trifle
resentfully, why the others didn't come. They were to cast off at eleven
and it was now well after ten.
"Probably," he muttered, edging back so that he could have the support
of the big, round smoke-stack, "Neil's buying another necktie! It would
serve them right if I started the thing up and went off without them."
As, however, Perry knew absolutely nothing about a gasoline engine,
there was little likelihood of his carrying that threat into action. In
any case, there would have been no excuse, for less than a minute later
he descried the tardy ones skirting the shed and coming along the wharf.
They looked, Perry thought with satisfaction, very hot and disgruntled
as, each carrying his belongings in a parcel so that there would be no
bags to stow away, they approached the boat.
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