."

"Did you think of that when you planned her, up there in the woods?"

"Yes."

"Yes," said Sid, "of course he did! Don't he always think of every
thing before it comes?"

It was rapidly coming on to storm. The rain was falling very slightly
now, and the wind was shifting to the east and rapidly rising. Sam
directed the boys to shorten sail, and showed them how to do it. The
wind grew stronger and stronger, suddenly shifting to the south. The
sail was still further shortened. The sea now began coming up, and Sam
saw that their chief danger was that of getting washed overboard. He
cautioned the boys against this, and changed the boat's course, so as
to keep her as nearly as possible where she was. A heavy sea broke
over her, and carried away their only water keg, which was a dire
calamity. After a little while their store of food went, and they were
at sea, in a storm, without food or water!

"I say, Sam," said Tom.

"What is it?"

"Is there land all to the north of us?"

"Yes."

"How far is it?"

"Twenty miles, perhaps,--possibly less."

"Why can't we head the boat about, and run for it?"

"Because the wind is blowing on shore, and there's a heavy surf
running."

"What of that?"

"Why, simply this, that if we run ashore on a long, flat beach, the
boat will be beaten to splinters a mile or more from land."

"How?"

"By the waves; they would lift her up, and receding let her drop
suddenly on the sands, splitting her to pieces in no time, and the
very next wave would do the same thing for us. We must stay out here
till the storm's over. There's nothing else for it."

The storm lasted long enough to make a furious sea, and the boys could
do nothing but hold on to the boat's gunwales. As night came on the
wind ceased, very suddenly, as it frequently does in Southern seas,
but the waves still rolled mountain high.

"When the sea goes down we'll try to make land, won't we, Sam?" asked
Tom.

"Yes, but before the surf is safe for us, we can sail several hours
toward Mobile, and gain that much. Indeed, I think we can get that far
west before it will be tolerably safe to run ashore. We're hungry and
thirsty, of course, but we must endure it. There's no other way."

The boat was presently headed to the west, and the sail unfurled
again, but as the night advanced the wind fell to a mere breeze, and
then died altogether. It began to grow hazy. The haze deepened into a
dense fog. The sea went down, and t