"Yes; and we are going to form a Yacht Club. We intend to have a meeting over at Turtle Head. Will you join, Don John?" "I haven't any boat." "Nor I, either. All the members can't be skippers," laughed Gus. "I am to be mate of the Sea Foam, and that's the reason I wanted to come on board of her." "And I am to be one of her crew," added Dick Adams. "And I the steward," laughed Ben Johnson. "I am going down into the cook-room to see how things look there." "You will join--won't you, Don?" "Well, I don't know. I can't afford to run with you fellows with rich fathers." "O, get out! That don't make any difference," puffed Gus. "The owner of the yacht has to foot the bills. Besides, we want you, Don John, for you know more about a boat than all the rest of the fellows put together." "Well, I shall be very glad to do anything I can to help the thing along; but there are plenty of fellows that can sail a boat better than I can." "But you know all about a boat, and they want you for measurer. We have the printed constitution of a Yacht Club, which Bob Montague got in Boston, and according to that the measurer is entitled to ten cents a foot for measuring a yacht; so you may make something out of your office." "I don't want to make any money out of it," protested Donald. "You can make enough to pay your dues, for we have to raise some money for prizes in the regattas; and we talk of having a club house over on Turtle Head," rattled Gus, whose tongue seemed to be hung on a pivot in his enthusiasm over the club. "Every fellow must be voted in, and pay five dollars a year for membership. We shall have some big times.--We are gaining on the Skylark, as true as you live!" "I think we are; but I guess Bob isn't driving her," added Donald. "She carries the same sail as the Sea Foam. I would give anything to beat her. Make her do her best, Don John." "I will," laughed the skipper, who had kept one eye on the Skylark all the time.