Then, giving Ralph directions as to where the boat was to be
left in Westville, Roy Parkhurst quit the boat, and, having eaten the
lunch, the boy started on the return, never dreaming of the excitement in
store for him.

CHAPTER XIV.

A STORMY TIME.

Like his father before him, Ralph had always liked the water. He was
perfectly familiar with the handling of all manner of small craft, and, had
it paid, would have liked nothing better than to follow a life on the
lakes.

But situations on the water which brought in a fair remuneration were
scarce in the vicinity of Westville, and so the boy did not attempt a
search for employment in that direction.

The half-day's job before him suited him exactly, and, after leaving
Martinton, he settled back with his hand on the tiller and his eyes on the
sails in great satisfaction.

"I wouldn't mind owning a boat like this," he thought, as the swift little
craft cut along through the water. "Perhaps I might do very well taking out
pleasure parties during the summer."

Inside of half an hour Martinton was left far behind. Then Ralph noted that
the fair sky was gradually becoming overcast.

"I wonder if we are going to have a blow," he soliloquized. "It more than
half looks like it."

About quarter of an hour later the breeze died out utterly. This was a bad
sign, and the boy prudently lowered the jib and took a couple of reefs in
the mainsail.

Presently came a low rumble of thunder from the southeast, and the sky grew
darker and darker. There was no longer any doubt that a severe
thunderstorm, preceded possibly by a squall, was close at hand.

Unwilling to take any risks in a boat not his own, Ralph lowered the
mainsail entirely. Hardly had he done so when a fierce wind swept up the
lake--a wind that presently raised itself almost to a hurricane.

The lightning began to flash all around him, followed by crash after crash
of thunder. The water was churned up in great violence, and he was
compelled to crouch low in the craft lest he be swept overboard and
drowned.

Driven by the wind, the boat moved across the lake, until Ralph grew
fearful that she would be driven up on the rocks and made a complete wreck.
At the risk of losing some canvas, he let out the mainsail a bit and
steered from the shore.

The rain came down by the bucketful, and it did not take much to soak him
to the skin. There was no way of protecting himself; he must take it as it
came. Fortuna