go ashore?"

"No, sir," said Donald.

"You never leaped afore, did you?"

"No, sir."

"Will you try it now, b'y?" said North, quietly.

"Yes, sir," Donald said, faintly.

"Get ready, then," said North.

With a stroke or two of the oars Job swung the stern of the boat to
the rocks. He kept her hanging in this position until the water fell
back and gathered in a new wave; then he lifted his oars. Donald was
crouched on the stern seat, waiting for the moment to rise and
spring.

The boat moved in, running on the crest of the wave which would a
moment later break against the rock. Donald stood up, and fixed his
eye on the ledge. He was afraid; all the strength and courage he
possessed seemed to desert him. The punt was now almost on a level
with the ledge. The wave was about to curl and fall. It was the
precise moment when he must leap--that instant, too, when the punt
must be pulled out of the grip of the breaker, if at all.

Billy Topsail and Jimmie Grimm were at this critical moment hanging
off Grief Island, in the lee, whence they could see all that occurred.
They had come out to watch the issue of Donald's courage.

[Illustration: _Courtesy of "The Youth's Companion"_
PLUCKING UP HIS COURAGE, DONALD LEAPED FOR THE ROCK.]

"He'll never leap," Jimmie exclaimed.

"He will," said Billy.

"He'll not," Jimmie declared.

"Look!" cried Billy.

Donald felt of a sudden that he _must_ do this thing. Therefore why
not do it courageously? He leaped; but this new courage had not come
in time. He made the ledge, but he fell an inch short of a firm
footing. So for a moment he tottered, between falling forward and
falling back. Then he caught the branch of an overhanging shrub, and
with this saved himself. When he turned, Job had the punt in safety;
but he was breathing hard, as if the strain had been great.

"'Twas not so hard, was it, b'y?" said Job.

"No, sir," said Donald.

"I told you so," said Billy Topsail to Jimmie Grimm.

"Good b'y!" Jimmie declared, as he hoisted the sail for the homeward
run.

Donald cast the net line loose from its mooring, and saw that it was
all clear. His father let the punt sweep in again. It is much easier
to leap from a solid rock than from a boat, so Donald jumped in
without difficulty. Then they rowed out to the buoy and hauled the
great, dripping net over the side.

It was well they had gone out, for before morning the ice had drifted
over the place where the net had b