e," laughed Jack.

"And I was left out of every one of them," grumbled Noddy.

"For which you ought to be duly thankful," said Billy.

"Yes, I didn't enjoy that stone house much, or the soot," declared Jack.

"That cave didn't make much of a hit with me, either," said Billy. "My,
those green eyes gave me a scare. I thought it was a bear or a mountain
lion, sure; but they say there aren't any such animals in this part of
the country."

"Abner said it must have been a lynx," said Jack.

"That being the case, you should have cuffed it," chuckled Noddy.

For the time being he escaped punishment for perpetrating this alleged
pun, for the wind began to freshen and the _Curlew_ slid through the
water like a thing of life. The shore drew rapidly nearer.

But the cloud curtain spread with astonishing rapidity, till the whole
sky was covered. The water turned from green to a dull leaden hue. Puffs
of wind came with great velocity, heeling over the _Curlew_ till the
foam creamed in her lee scuppers.

The wind moaned in a queer, eerie sort of way, that bespoke the coming
of a storm of more than ordinary severity. Jack was a prey to some
anxiety as he held the _Curlew_ on her course. If they could not make
the dock he was aiming for before the storm struck, there might be
serious consequences.

But, to his great relief, they reached the wharf, a tumble-down affair,
before the tempest broke. The _Curlew_ was made "snug," and this had
hardly been done before a mighty gust of wind, followed by a blanket of
rain, tore through the air.

"Just in time, boys," said Jack, as they set out on the run for the
structure which they had observed from the water. On closer view it
turned out to be nothing more than a barn, not in any too good repair,
but still it offered a shelter.

The boys reached it just as a terrific blast of wind swept across the
bay, roughening it with multitudinous whitecaps. A torrent of rain
blotted out distances at the same time and turned all the world in their
vicinity into a driving white cloud.

The barn proved to be even more rickety than its outside had indicated.
The door was gone and its windows were broken out. But at least it was
pleasanter under a roof than it would have been out in the open. The
rain, driven by the furious wind, penetrated the rotten, sun-dried
shingles and pattered on the earthen floor, but the boys found a dry
place in one corner, where there was a pile of hay.

As the storm