Steve took advantage of plain sailing to instruct Joe, Phil and Perry in the handling of the wheel and controls, and each of the pupils took his turn at guiding the cruiser along the sandy coast.
Fire Island Inlet was reached shortly before three and Steve took the wheel again and ran the _Adventurer_ past Jack's Island, around the curve of Short Beach and into the waters of the Great South Bay.

There was still a six-mile run to their anchorage, however, and it was nearly four when the cruiser at last crept in among the clustered craft off Bay Shore and dropped her anchor.

A hundred yards away a cluster of boys on the deck of a sturdy cabin-cruiser swung their caps and sent a hail across.

Steve seized the megaphone from its rack and answered.
"_Follow Me_, ahoy!" he shouted.
"Ahoy yourself!" was the ribald reply.

"We're coming over!" The crew of the _Follow Me_ tumbled into a tiny dingey, cast off and were lost to sight beyond the intervening craft.