ough the channel between Deer Island
and Sedgwick.

The wind was still unsteady, coming in heavy flaws; but now it was
beginning to haul more to the southward. This change was favorable, for
it enabled the Skylark to lay her course for Camden. But an awful sea
was rolling in from the ocean, and the yacht jumped like a galloping
horse. The wind freshened into a gale with the change, and the gusts
were more fitful and violent. The jib was taken in, and Monkey was
thoroughly ducked in the operation, for the Skylark occasionally slapped
the waves with her bowsprit. Great black clouds were rolling up off to
seaward, but Bobtail was confident that the yacht was equal to anything.
Under the lee of an island, the mainsail was close-reefed; but she flew
over the waves, and the skipper hoped to reach his destination by nine
in the evening. At eight o'clock, while it was still light, he
discovered a schooner working down the bay under jib and reefed mainsail
which he recognized as the Penobscot.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE WRECK OF THE PENOBSCOT.

"That's the Penobscot!" exclaimed Bobtail, as soon as he identified her.

"She is taking a nasty night to go to sea," added Monkey.

"She will put into Rockland or Camden. I suppose the colonel is in a
hurry to get to Newport for some race. He told me yesterday he should
sail to-day."

"She ain't going into Camden. If she was, she wouldn't be out there.
She's right off the ledges, and if she don't tack soon, she'll be on
'em," said the Darwinian.

"I think she's going into Rockland. She can make it in one more
stretch."

"She can get in behind Owl's Head, and lay as easy as if she was in a
mill pond."

"That's an awful sea out there, Monkey," said Bobtail. "See the
breakers on that lower ledge. If I was the captain of the Penobscot, I
should go in stays. There she goes!"

At this moment the sails of the large yacht shook, as her head came up
to the wind. But the next instant she fell off, heeled over, and drove
ahead again. Bobtail distinctly heard a shout from her, though she was a
mile distant. He watched her with his heart in his mouth, and his worst
fears were realized when he saw her lift her bow high up in the water.
She had run upon the ledge.

"By gracious! she is on the rocks!" cried Bobtail, wild with excitement
and anxiety.

"So she is!" gasped Monkey.

Then came a shriek in the tones of a woman's voice, whose piercing note
was heard above the roaring of th