Oscar cleared his throat and frowned.  “You’d have to pay a lot for a cook,” he said.  “It isn’t hard, really.  I could do it—­if I were going along.”

“That’s so,” George Hanford confirmed.  But the rest seemed unflatteringly doubtful.  The silence was almost embarrassing.  At last Joe said hurriedly: 

“Well, we don’t have to decide that now.  Besides, if you can’t come with us—­um—­” His voice trailed off into a relieved silence.  Oscar smiled haughtily.

“That’s all right,” he said.  “If you prefer a cook, say so.  Only, if I did go I’d be willing to do the cooking, and I’ll bet I could do it as well as any cook you could hire.  Isn’t it so, Han?”

“Yes, I call you a mighty nifty cook, Ossie.  I’ve eaten your biscuits more than once.  Flapjacks, too.”

“Well,” said Joe politely, “camp cooking is um—­different, I guess, from regular cooking.  Of course, I don’t say Ossie couldn’t do it, mind you, but—­we wouldn’t want to take chances.  On the whole, I think it would be best to have a regular cook.”

“We might let Ossie try it,” suggested Perry judicially.

“Oh, I’m not crazy about it,” disclaimed Oscar, piqued.  “If you prefer to pay out good money for a cook—­”

“Not at all,” interrupted Steve soothingly.  “We want to do the whole thing as cheaply as we can.  I see no harm in leaving the cooking end of it to you, Brazier; that is, if you can go.”

“I’m going to make a big try for it,” declared Oscar resolutely.  “If my folks won’t let me, they—­they’ll wish they had!”

Whereupon, emboldened by Oscar’s stand, Neil Fairleigh expressed the conviction that he, too, could manage it some way.  “I dare say that if I tell my dad that all you chaps are going he will think it’s all right.  It wouldn’t be for all Summer, anyway, would it?”

“The idea now,” responded Steve, “is to start out for a month’s cruise and extend it if we cared to.  I suppose any of us that got tired could quit after the month was up.”  He smiled.  “We’d all have to sign-on for a month, though.”

“Right-o,” agreed Hanford.  “What about electing officers?  Oughtn’t we to do that?  Someone ought to be in charge, I should think.”

“Sure!” exclaimed Joe.  “We’ll ballot.  Throw that pad over here, Ossie.”

“Wait a minute,” said Steve.  “I’ve been thinking, fellows.  The Cockatoo will hold six comfortably.  The main cabin has berths for four and the owner’s cabin for two, but if I’m not mistaken the berths in the owner’s cabin are extension, and if they are we could bunk three fellows in there, or even four at a pinch.  That would give us room for seven or eight in all.  Eight might make it a bit crowded, but she’s a big, roomy boat and I think we could do with seven fellows all right.  And seven’s a lucky number, too.  So suppose we take in one more while we’re at it?”

“The more the merrier,” agreed Joe.  “Who have you got in mind?”