seen though the tide was going out, and no white spray was
dashing high into the air to make a sight worth seeing.
‘What do you suppose they are about? Never saw such a lot of
folks at this time. Shouldn’t wonder if something had happened. I
say, put me ashore, and I’ll cut up and see,” said the bicycle boy,
who was of an inquiring turn.
“I’ll go with you,” said Frank; “it won’t take but a minute, and I’d
like to discover what it is. Maybe something we ought to know
about.”
So the boys pulled round into a quiet nook, and the two elder ones
scrambled up the rocks, to disappear in the crowd. Five, ten,
fifteen minutes passed, and they did not return. Jack grew
impatient, so did Jill, and bade him run up and bring them back.
Glad to know what kept them, Jack departed, to be swallowed up
in his turn, for not a sign of a boy did she see after that; and,
having vainly strained her eyes to discover the attraction which
held them, she gave it up, lay down on their jackets, and began to
read.
Then the treacherous tide, as it ebbed lower and lower down the
beach, began to lure the boat away; for it was not fastened, and
when lightened of its load was an easy prize to the hungry sea,
always ready to steal all it can. Jill knew nothing of this, for her
story was dull, the gentle motion proved soothing, and before she
knew it she was asleep. Little by little the runaway boat slid farther
from the shore, and presently was floating out to sea with its
drowsy freight, while the careless boys, unconscious of the time
they were wasting, lingered to see group after group photographed
by the enterprising man who had trundled his camera to the rocks.
In the midst of a dream about home, Jill was roused by a loud
shout, and, starting up so suddenly that the sun-umbrella went
overboard, she found herself sailing off alone, while the distracted
lads roared and beckoned vainly from the cove. The oars lay at
their feet, where they left them; and the poor child was quite
helpless, for she could not manage the sail, and even the parasol,
with which she might have paddled a little, had gone down with all
sail set. For a minute, Jill was so frightened that she could only
look about her with a scared face, and wonder if drowning was a
very disagreeable thing. Then the sight of the bicycle boy
struggling with Jack, who seemed inclined to swim after her, and
Frank shouting wildly, “Hold on! Come back!” made her laugh in
spite of her fear, it was so comical, and their distress so much
greater than hers, since it was their own carelessness which caused
the trouble.
“I can’t come back! There’s nothing to hold on to! You didn’t fasten
me, and now I don’t know where I’m going!” cried Jill, looking
from the shore to the treacherous sea that was gently carrying her
away.
“Keep cool! We’ll get a boat and come after you,~ roared Frank,
before he followed Jack, who had collected his wits and was
tearing up the rocks like a chamois hunter.
The bicycle boy calmly sat down to keep his eye on the runaway,
calling out from time to time such cheering remarks as “All aboard
for Liverpool! Give my love to Victoria! Luff and bear away when
you come to Halifax! If you are hard up for provisions, you’ll find
an apple and some bait in my coat-pocket,” and other directions for
a comfortable voyage, till his voice was lost in the distance as a
stronger current bore her swiftly away and the big waves began to
tumble and splash.
At first Jill had laughed at his efforts to keep up her spirits, but
when the boat floated round a point of rock that shut in the cove,
she felt all alone, and sat quite still, wondering what would
become of her. She turned her back to the sea and looked at the
dear, safe land, which never had seemed so green and beautiful