Peter amp Co. by Mary Grant Bruce

Author:Mary Grant Bruce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, juvenile, Australia
Publisher: Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Published: 1940-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

“We hauled, working ourselves backward: bit by bit Mr. Frith

came over the edge.”

Peter & Co.] [Page 128

CHAPTER XII

THE BONITO

‟I’M THINKING of getting a boat,” said Dad.

We all looked astonished, for that was about the last thing we should have dreamed of, seeing that our life for weeks had been spent more in boats than out of them. It had been a great time. We were all tanned to walnut colour, and as fit as we could be; no one ever mentioned the fact that I had once had a crocked leg. I had tried that leg pretty hard among the islands, but Watty’s healing had been thorough. Never once had it given me even a twinge.

“A boat?” asked Mother vaguely.

“Yes. This business of fishing in a launch with about thirty people doesn’t appeal to me. Not room enough for anyone my size. Even if I tie my legs in knots, somebody is sure to fall over them. And with lines out from bow to stern it’s a constant business of getting foul of somebody else’s line, spending ages in disentangling them.”

“Yes,” said Mother. She was never very keen on fishing, and for some time she had ceased to go out in the launch. As she said, it was delightful to be ashore, and why sit in a launch when you might lie on a coral beach under a palm-tree? Especially when you could roll gently into the sea whenever you felt like a bathe. She had been doing these things, with the result that she looked nearly as young as Miss Tarrant.

“Well, that’s how I feel about it,” said Dad. “And I should like to see more of this district than can be seen in a big launch like Burgess’s. He’s extraordinarily good in the way he runs us round, but the Sunshine draws too much water for some of the places where I’d like to poke about.”

Mother said, “So it just boils down to the fact that you want to be independent. And of course you have all your arrangements made already, or you wouldn’t come to consult the family. Where is the boat, dear?” She smiled up at him.

Dad grinned. “Trust you to know!” he said. “Well, I’ve practically got the boat. I consulted Burgess, and he quite saw my point. He knows a man on the mainland who has a handy little launch with a good engine. Says he’ll always hire it out to a careful man, and I can rely on its being in first-class order. I saw that launch one day when we were fishing—Burgess pointed her out to me. A fellow from Cairns had her, but he’s gone home now. She’s just what we want.”

“And when will you get her?”

“The Sunshine is going over to-morrow for mails and stores, so I think I’ll go too. If this launch is available I’ll bring her back.”

Binkie and I said with one voice, “Can I come?” and Clem looked as if he would like to say the same thing but wasn’t sure if he ought to.

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