"One of these never really lived and the other two died long years agone, say you?" "Well, suppose they did. Pray don't spoil a story by speaking at the wrong time."
These three persons went gayly out, undismayed by the warning on the boat-house sign:
I nearly forgot to say that there were to have been five in the party, but the Schoolmaster of our Republic (8) and the Mad Yankee (6) read the sign and refused to go. But such a lot of things as were found by the three who went!
First they explored a mysterious excavation (7) contained in a street-sweeper, and a place of trade (8) kept in an insect. They met a wise man (9) in conception, and bought a warm covering (10) contained in a wrinkle; some small cord (11) done up in strengthening medicine; a bedded carriage (12) in sparkling; a covering for the head (13) in an impropriety; a quantity of paper (14) in demand; some food;(15) in a scoffer; a chart (16) in a telegraph; a clamp(17) in useful; a white linen garment (18) in military weapon; a large farm (19) in the gills of fishes, and some certificates of stock (20) in a title.
These filled the boat, though some were eaten, some lounged upon, and others studied. Queer place to shop? Well, never mind if it was so. Let my story go on.
As the three men were trying on what they found in the impropriety which they had purchased, one of them discovered a few things that had probably been left in the boat by a former sailing-party. The first (21) had once been in the fields and brooks, aye, a part of it even in the sky. Then it had been warmed, put through a process that city folk are laughed at by country folk because they cannot manipulate, and finally subjected to great pressure. The second (22) was once a part of a great mountain. Then it helped raise potatoes. Next it was buried in a grave. Again it was heated and then cooled, and became the source of so much comfort that the wonder was its owner left it behind. The third thing (23) is supposed to bring good luck. It is something that, in its natural position, moved rapidly--often with two motions at the same time. There was that about it which masons use. It was a sad loss to its owner, no doubt. The fourth and last thing was a liquor (24) contained in a secretion of the ear. It was not the first time that a drinking-vessel (25) which we find in refreshment brought death in its train. From that moment the men were doomed. They grew reckless, and here are some of the things they thought they saw: