The hatch, although water-tight, was made
to open for the admission of ice and supplies. Still forward, in the
nose of the boat, was a large water tank and, beyond that, the rope
locker. The gasoline tanks, of which there were four, held two hundred
and fifty gallons. The boat was lighted by electricity in all parts by
means of a generator and storage battery. An eight-foot tender rested on
chocks atop the main cabin. The boat carried no signal mast, but
flag-poles at bow and stern and abaft the bridge deck frame held the
Union Jack, the yacht ensign and the club burgee. All in all, the
_Adventurer_ was a smart and finely appointed craft, and a capable one,
too. Steve's father had had her built only a little more than a year ago
and she had seen but scant service. In the inelegant but expressive
phraseology of Perry, "she was a rip-snorting corker of a boat." The
consensus of opinion was to the effect that Mr. Chapman was "a peach to
let them have it," and there was an unuttered impression that that
kind-hearted gentleman was taking awful chances!
For, after all, except that Steve had had a brief week or so on the boat
the preceding Summer and that Joe had taken two days of instruction in
gasoline engine operation, not a member of the crew knew much of the
work ahead.
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