Page:Cruise of the Jasper B (1916).djvu/43

 "No; the land. I'm surprised to find that the land goes with the ship."

"Why, it doesn't," said Mr. Goldberg. "It's the ship that goes with the land. She was on the land when I bought the plot, and I just left her there. Nobody's paid any attention to her for years."

The words "on the land" grated on Cleggett.

"You mean on the water, don't you?"

"In the mud, then," suggested Mr. Goldberg.

"But she'll sail all right," said Cleggett.

"I suppose if she was decorated up with sails and things she'd sail. Figuring on sailing her anywhere in particular?"

"Subtly irritated, Cleggett answered: "Oh, no, no! Not anywhere in particular!"

"Going to live on her this summer?—Outdoor sleeping room, and all that?"

"I'm thinking of it."

"You could turn her into a house boat easy enough. I had a friend who turned an old barge like that into a house boat and had a lot of fun with her."

"Barge?" Cleggett rose and buttoned his coat; the conversation was somehow growing more and