outed Walter. "Or she'll smash into that
other boat," for the _Pet_, under the momentum of the slide, was going
stern foremost straight toward an anchored sloop.

CHAPTER XVI

SUSPICIONS STRENGTHENED

The girls screamed. The boys looked on in startled amazement. The men
who had been hired to help launch the boat stood with their hands hanging
at their sides, as if unable to do anything. Finally Walter galvanized
himself into action long enough to exclaim:

"We should have had a rope fast to her."

"That you had, my lad!" agreed a grizzled old fisherman. "A rope and a
kedge anchor on shore. Howsomever----"

"Can't something be done?" demanded Cora, clasping her hands impulsively.
"It must be! Our boat!"

The spectacle of the fine craft, in which so many of the hopes and
expectations of the young people centered, about to be damaged, seemed
to send a chill of apprehension to the hearts of the girls--more so than
in the case of the boys. And it certainly looked as though a collision
was unavoidable.

"And Jack!" cried Belle. "He'll be smashed!"

"Not on that end," remarked Ed, grimly. "If he sticks there he won't be
hurt. He's as far away from the smashing-point as he can get."

This was true, for Jack was now clinging to the stem of the boat, having
edged his way along from amidships. He did not seem worried, and in fact
was preparing to do the only thing possible to prevent a collision.

While the boys--Ed, Walter and Norton--were racing about, looking for
an available boat to launch, regardless of the fact that it would be too
late for all practical purposes, and while the fishermen helpers were
disputing as to whose fault it was that a retaining rope had not been
provided, Jack was carrying out his plan of action.

This was nothing more or less than to turn himself into a rudder. As a
usual thing the rudder is on the stern of the boat--necessarily so--but
in this case the stern of the _Pet_ was the bow, as far as motion was
concerned, and Jack, clinging to the stem, was on the stern, so to speak.
So, vigorously churning with his feet, as a swimmer might tread water,
he threw himself to one side, as a rudder might have been turned.

The effect was immediate. The _Pet_ veered to one side, and the startled
owner of the sloop, toward which the motor boat was plunging, had small
use for the hook he had caught up in his excitement.

In another moment the _Pet_ shot alongside the other craft, sliding r