Presently they landed, crossed the railroad tracks, and skirted the little open space with its monument, erected, as Tom declared, to commemorate the discovery of New London by Thomas Ferris, the famous explorer. And just then they made another discovery. It was the eve of the Fourth of July. That fact was extremely evident. Up and down the street the sound of exploding firecrackers was deafening. Dan started to sing “The Night before the Fourth,” but Tommy darted into a store and when the others reached him he already had his arms full of crackers and Roman candles. Then they visited other shops and bought all sorts of things from news-papers to canvas shoes. Finally Dan was despatched to the launch with the purchases and the others went on up the hill to the big hotel. When Dan joined them he brought exciting news of a show which was announced for that evening at the local theater and during dinner they unanimously decided to attend. “You ought to see the posters,” said Dan. “Oh, great! There’s one picture where the hero in a false yellow beard has got into the counterfeiters’ den and is holding them all at bay with a pistol in each hand, saying ‘_The first to move is a dead man!_’ Oh, it’s swell!” “What’s it called?” asked Tom eagerly. “‘The Counterfeiter’s Bride.’” “Did you see the bride?” asked Bob. “Yes, she was there, too; in a corner, with her face over her hands and——” “With what?” shouted the others. “I mean with her hands over her face. She has beautiful golden hair and wears black; they always do. Then there’s a terribly funny picture of the comic fellow jumping out of a second-story window with a life-preserver strapped around his waist.” “That doesn’t _sound_ terribly funny,” remarked Bob. “With a life-preserver on him?” demanded Dan. “It was a fire.” “You didn’t say it was a fire. I thought he was jumping into a river or something.” “Well, he isn’t; he’s jumping into the street.” “Still,” hazarded Nelson, “maybe he put the life-preserver on to save him from automobiles. You know it’s a mighty dangerous thing, jumping into the street nowadays.” “Oh, you fade away!” growled Dan. “I’m going to see it, anyway.” “We all are,” said Bob. “I haven’t been to a theater since Christmas vacation.” So go they did, and had a fine time. After they got back to the launch and had been welcomed by Barry Tom and Dan reproduced the second act in the engine room, Dan playing the rôle of the Secret Service hero and Tom doing the distracted bride. Barry somewhat marred the effectiveness of the supreme situation by thinking the whole affair organized for his amusement and trying to shake Dan off his feet just when the latter had covered Nelson and Bob with a pair of “sneakers” and was in the act of declaiming in a blood-curdling voice: “_The first to move is a dead man!_”