down gloomily on the hatch of the engine
room, and lighted their pipes. Tinker and Elsie went back to the
cabin, rolled themselves in rugs, and were soon enjoying the innocent
sleep of childhood.

It was twelve o'clock when Tinker awoke, and at once he went on deck
and found that Alphonse, by way of keeping watch, had gone comfortably
asleep in the bows, while Adolphe snored from the forecastle. He
kicked Alphonse awake, and said, "Don't you think you could get her off
if you hauled up the anchor?"

For a minute or two Alphonse turned the idea hazily over in his apology
for a mind; then, with a hasty exclamation, he ran to the side, and saw
dimly the taut anchor chain. He blundered below, lugged Adolphe out of
his berth and on deck, and for five excited minutes they explained to
one another that the anchor was embedded in the sandbank, and that it
held the _Petrel_ on it. Then soberly and slowly they got to work on
the capstan, and hauled up the anchor. A dozen turns of the propeller
drew the _Petrel_ off the bank and into deep water. In three minutes
they had her about and steamed off towards the marooned, while Tinker
in the galley was heating water for coffee and making soup.

In the meanwhile Dorothy and Sir Tancred, ignorant of their plight, had
spent a delightful afternoon exploring with a never-tiring interest one
another's souls. For a long time she chided him gently for his aimless
manner of living; and he defended himself with a half-mocking sadness.
At about sunset they rose reluctantly, sighed with one accord that the
pleasant hours were over, looked at one another with sudden questioning
eyes at the sound of the sighs, and looked quickly away. They walked
slowly, on feet reluctant to leave pleasant places, through the pines,
silent, save that twice Sir Tancred sent his voice ringing among the
trees in a call to Tinker. They came to the landing-place, to find an
empty sea, and looked at one another blankly.

"The children must have persuaded the men to take them for a cruise,"
said Sir Tancred.

"But they're late coming back," said Dorothy.

For a while their eyes explored the corners and recesses of the Gulf
within sight, but found no _Petrel_. Then Sir Tancred said, "Well, we
must wait"; and spread a rug for her at the foot of a tree. He paced
up and down before her, keeping an eye over the water and talking to
her.

The dusk deepened and deepened, and at last it was quite dark.

"We'r