ws of the cutter paid off and she
walked away close-hauled, standing out towards "No Man's Fort," on the
starboard tack.

It was now past midday and the tide was making into the harbour; so
that, as the wind from the south-west had got rather slight, veering
round to the southwards, the cutter did not gain much of an offing,
losing in leeway nearly all she got in beating out to windward.

"I vote we let her run off a little towards the Nab," said Bob, seeing
what little progress they made towards the fort; and he, being the
steersman, put the helm up, easing off at the same time the sheet of the
mainsail; Dick, who was in the bows, attending to the jib. "It's awful
poor fun drifting like this!"

"Mind you turns back agen when the tide begins to run out!" premised
Dick. "You promised as we wasn't to go fur!"

"All right," replied Bob, "I won't forget."

But, now, a strange thing happened.

No sooner had the cutter's bows been turned to the eastwards, than
Rover, who had previously been looking very uneasy, standing up with his
hind legs on one of the thwarts and his fore-paws on the taffrail
astern, gazing anxiously behind at the land they were leaving, all at
once gave vent to a loud unearthly howl and sprang overboard.

"Hi, Rover, come back, sir!" yelled out Bob, at the pitch of his
voice--"Rover, come back!"

But, the dog, although hitherto always obedient to his young master's
call, paid no attention to it now, turning a deaf ear to all his
whistles and shouts and swimming steadily towards the shore.

"Poor Rover, he'll be drownded, sure-ly!" said Dick. "Don't 'ee think
we'd better go arter he, poor chap?"

"Not a bit of it!" replied Bob, angry at the dog's desertion, as he
thought it, putting down Rover's behaviour to some strange dislike on
his part to being in the yacht, at all events when she was moving
briskly through the water. "He has swum twice as far in the river in
London, and I won't go after him!"

Bob, however, brought the little yacht up to the wind again, watching
until Rover was seen to emerge from the sea and crawl up on the beach
again; when the cutter's head was allowed to pay off again, and within a
couple of hours or so, although neither of the boys took any note of how
the time was going, they had not only passed the Nab but were now
nearing the Ower's light-ship.

Not till then did Dick become aware how far they had reached out,
Portsmouth having long since disappeared and e