They Bought a Boat

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Jack Burns and Billy Hale buy a motorboat. Having more enthusiasm than nautical knowledge, they invite their friends for a trip. Swelled with the importance of ownership, they invest in gorgeous uniforms and engage a cabin boy who weighs three hundred pounds. They are about to make a trial when the government inspector warns them that they are lacking in necessary equipment, such as life preservers, fire apparatus, fog horns, lights, etc. They buy enough equipment to sink a battleship and when it is all loaded on the launch with the cabin boy on top it comes near swamping the boat. They put "out to sea," however, and their friends watch them from the shore. They discover that the boat leaks and a panic ensues. They try to bail the water out with tin cups while the cabin boy puts the pump hose overboard and pumps water into the boat. The water gains rapidly and they yell loudly for help. An old sailor wades out to them to see what is the matter and tells them that they are aground in about ten inches of water and they had better walk ashore. They return to their room wet and disgusted, discard all that savors of nautical atmosphere, and decide to buy a croquet set.