Page:Ballinger Price--The Happy Venture.djvu/205

Rh the Celestine, Kirk and Mr. Martin—or Martin, the Maestro's son.

"And it was the same old Celestine!" Ken marveled; "that's the queer part." He fidgeted with the tongs for a moment and then said, "You didn't know I once nearly ran away to sea on her, did you?"

Two incredulous voices answered in the negative.

"It was when I was very, very young," said Ken, removed by six months of hard experience from his escapade, "and very foolish. Never mind about it. But who'd have thought she'd restore all our friends and relatives to us in this way! By the way, where's the ill-starred Dutchman?"

"Up at Bedford," Kirk said.

"Let her stay there," said Ken. "The season's over here, for the Sturgis Water Line. And I'm afraid of that boat. When I go up after Mother I'll try to sell the thing for what I can get."

Mother! There was another topic! Kirk didn't even know she was coming home! The talk went off on a new angle, and plan followed