"And I intend to continue to grow younger as long as I may, dear. It is a privilege not given many women, and I shall make the most of it.

If I have the opportunity I may even set my cap for a beau."

"Oh, Aunt Betty, how can you say such a thing!"

"'Such a thing,' as you call it, would be perfectly proper. Would it not, Judge Breckenridge?"

"Quite proper, madame--quite proper," responded the judge gallantly--"in fact, judging by the evidence of my eyes, I see no other solution of the matter."

"What a gallant speech," laughed Molly. "You may be a semi-invalid, papa, but you will never, never lose your courtly ways."

"An example which all young men should emulate," said Aunt Betty, looking pointedly at Jim, who grinned broadly.

It was a merry party that boarded the trim gasoline yacht _Nautilus_ at one of the wharves an hour later. Aunt Betty, a.s.sisted by the Judge and Jim, was the first aboard. Doctor Sterling, with Dorothy and Molly followed.

The owner of the yacht was introduced by Dr. Sterling, and when all were comfortably seated in the deck chairs forward, Mr. Ronald signaled the man in the wheelhouse, who in turn signaled the engine-room to go ahead.

"Ah, this is my style of boating," sighed the Judge, as, with a deep sigh of satisfaction he dropped into one of the comfortable chairs on the forward deck. "When a boy I used to sail a little sloop, but after all, it is better to have something to push you besides the wind."

The steamer whistle screeched hoa.r.s.ely.

"We're off!" cried Dr. Sterling.

Though a strong breeze, in which there was a tinge of dampness, came in from the ocean as the yacht went spinning down the bay, no one chose to retire to the cabin, even Aunt Betty protesting that the fresh air was doing her good.

A heavy swell was running, but the _Nautilus_ weathered the waves in true ocean style, only a slight rocking movement being perceptible.

When they were well started down the bay, Mr. Ronald came to ask if they cared to visit the Statue of Liberty.

"I think that's an excellent idea," said Dr. Sterling. "Judge Breckenridge and Mrs. Calvert cannot, of course, climb the spiral stairs leading up into the statue, but we younger people can, and will, if you say the word."

"Oh, I think it will be jolly," cried Dorothy, who had seen the Statue of Liberty from the Brooklyn bridge and wondered what was inside it.

Molly and Jim fell promptly in with the plan, so the yacht was moored to the little island, after which Dr. Sterling guided the girls and Jim up to the dizzy height represented by the statue's hand. Quite a climb it was, too, but one which amply rewarded them, for they were able to gaze out over city and bay to such an advantage that they were loath to descend.

Back to the yacht they finally went, however, and the _Nautilus_ again turned her nose down the upper bay.

On one side lay Brooklyn, on the other Jersey City, while about them craft of all shapes and sizes puffed and snorted as they performed their daily tasks.

On down into the lower bay the yacht went skimming, breasting the heavy swells of the Atlantic, and causing exclamations of delight from both Molly and Dorothy, neither of whom had ever been this far at sea.

Down between the upper quarantine and the Staten Island sh.o.r.e they went at a speed of twelve knots, then, rounding the lower quarantine, stood straight for Rockaway Beach.

It was too early in the season for any of the resorts to be open, hence the girls were unable to view the scenes of activity that make these famous places the mecca of the bathers in the warm season.

"I imagine I should like to spend a summer here," said Dorothy.

"And perhaps some of these days you will have the opportunity--who knows?" remarked Aunt Betty.

"Well, when she comes I must be included in the party or there will be big trouble," Molly put in.

"Lots of trouble you'd make your best chum, young lady," replied Aunt Betty, chucking the Judge's daughter playfully under the chin.

After a run of some twenty minutes, the yacht again turned, this time nosing its way back along the coast toward the lower bay.

"In a few moments, I will show you Brighton and Manhattan Beaches,"

said Dr. Sterling--"also the famous Coney Island of which you have heard so much."

"I should dearly love to visit Coney," said Dorothy.

"I have been there twice," said Molly, proudly, "and it is a veritable city of wonders. I have never been able to understand how a brain can conceive all those funny things which amuse you."

"Great brains are capable of many things in these days," Jim said.

"Oh, are they now, my n.o.ble philosopher?"

"Yes, Miss Saucy, they are!"

"What's that stretch of water east of us, with all the little islands in it?" asked Dorothy, suddenly.

"That is Jamaica Bay," replied Mr. Ronald. "It lies across the peninsula from Rockaway Beach."

"I thought Jamaica was in the West Indies, or some other forsaken spot," said Molly.

"Come, come," chided Dr. Sterling. "Remember your geography."

"You certainly ought to know where the ginger comes from," said Jim, in the same bantering spirit.

"Well, I guess I do, if anybody asks you, Mr. Barlow," she returned, saucily. "But that's no sign I knew there was a Jamaica Bay in New York State. My geography didn't teach me that."

"Of course it did," taunted the boy, "but you did not take the trouble to remember it."

Further discussion of this unimportant subject was cut short by a crash from the engine-room of the yacht, followed by a hissing noise as of escaping steam, and the propeller, which was being driven at many thousands of revolutions per minute, began suddenly to slow up.

A shriek from Aunt Betty drew Dorothy quickly to her side, while Mr.

Ronald cried out:

"Something has happened to the engine!"

Then he made a dash below decks, followed by Dr. Sterling, and, a few seconds later, by Jim, who saw in the yacht's misfortune another opportunity to satisfy his mechanical curiosity.

The boy reached the engine-room directly on the heels of Mr. Ronald and Dr. Sterling, and saw the engineer and his a.s.sistant flat on their backs trying to locate the trouble.

"Something apparently broke inside her, sir," the engineer was saying, in response to a question from Mr. Ronald. "I can't say how serious it is till we find it, sir."

"Then of course you do not know how long we shall be delayed?"

"No; I couldn't say, sir. Can't even promise that we can run in on one pair of cylinders, sir, for they all seem to be affected alike."