Page:Castlemon--Joe Wayring at Home.djvu/55

 could see that, and they were disappointed, and angry as well, because their parents had not decided to spend a portion of the summer at some place convenient to salt water, so that they could enjoy a dip in the surf now and then.

"I see a boat down there," observed Loren. "I wonder if we could hire it for an hour or two I think I should like to take a sail on that lake, it looks so cool and inviting."

"Humph!" exclaimed Tom. "I'd much rather take a run up to Newport or over to Greenbush in my father's yacht."

"I wouldn't," answered Loren. "I can go down to the Sound any day, but a gem of a lake like this is something I haven't feasted my eyes upon in a long time. I am going to see if I can hire a boat; and after I get tired of sailing around in her, I'm going to lie to under the shade of some tree that hangs over the water, and be as lazy as I know how. That's what I came up here for."

"Boom!" said a field-piece, from some distant part of the village.

"What was that?" exclaimed Ralph. "A cannon?"