to do?" asked Godfrey.

"Stay where we are, I suppose, till the tide floats her off again,"
replied Piers.

"It's a pleasant look-out, anyhow!" said Francis.

"And Aunt Winifred will be wondering where we are, too, if we don't turn
up for tea," added Mabel.

"It's a pity we didn't bring some tea with us, and we could have had a
picnic," said Aldred. "I'm so thirsty!"

"There's nothing to offer you but the river, I'm afraid."

"No, thanks, it's too muddy for my taste."

"'Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink!'" quoted Piers.

"And what our thirst will be ere long,
One doesn't like to think!"

rapped out the irrepressible Francis, whose muse was not quenched even
by this disaster.

"We're in a fix, and that's the solemn truth," said Godfrey.

They were, indeed, in a most awkward predicament. By the time the tide
was high again it would be midnight, and they certainly could not see to
row in the dark. There was every prospect that they would have to spend
the night on the shoal, without tea or supper, or extra wraps.

They waited for perhaps an hour and a half, while the sandbank grew to
quite a respectable island. There were woods on either hand, so it was
most unlikely that their plight would be noticed from the shore; their
only chance of relief was from a passing boat--a faint hope, for as a
rule there were very few craft on the river.

"I begin to understand how a shipwrecked mariner feels when he's waiting
for a sail!" said Aldred.

"I believe I'd trade my watch for a plateful of bread and butter," said
Francis.

Godfrey suddenly stood up in the stern and waved his hat.

"A boat! A boat!" he cried eagerly. "Hallo, there! Hi!"

Francis and Piers immediately joined him in making such a noise that
nobody but a deaf person could have ignored it. The fisherman who was
rowing in their direction evidently realized the situation; he signed to
his mate to stay in the channel, then, clambering overboard, came wading
in his tall boots on to the island.

"Why, it's Sam Ball, who sings in the choir!" exclaimed Godfrey.

Their rescuer regarded them with a rueful grin.

"You've got yourselves into a precious mess here!" he said briefly.

"Can you help us to pull her off?" returned Piers anxiously.

"Pull her off! Couldn't do it with a team of horses! She'll have to stop
where she is until the tide floats her. I'll take you off, and that's
the best I can do for you. Hoist one of them yo