shelter.
But the bow of the _Pet_ was high. She was a good craft in rough weather,
and as for the hired _Duck_, she was built for those waters.

"Let's be jolly!" proposed Jack, for a glance at the girls in their boat
had showed him that they were on the verge of hysterics. "Strike up a
song, Ed."

"Give us Nancy Lee," suggested Walter.

"Nancy!" exclaimed Cora. "I wonder where that other Nancy is?"

"No telling," declared Eline. "Oh dear! I hope it doesn't rain. This dress
spots so!" and she looked down at her rather light gown, which really
she ought not to have worn on a water picnic. Cora had said as much, but
Eline--well, it must be confessed that she was rather vain. She had good
clothes and she liked to wear them, not always at appropriate times.

"It won't rain!" asserted Jack. "Go ahead, Ed--sing!"

"'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep' would be most appropriate," voiced
Norton. "We are rocking some."

It was indeed getting rougher, and the motor boats bobbed up and down on
the long swells. But as yet none had broken over the bows. Cora dreaded
this, not because of any particular danger, but because of the effect it
would have on her chums, particularly Belle, who, try as she might, could
not conquer her nervous dread of the water.

The boys started a song, and the girls joined in, but a sudden dash of
spray over the _Pet's_ stem brought a scream from Belle that made a
discord, and they all stopped.

Jack, who was steering the _Duck_, stood up and looked ahead. They were
approaching the point around which they must go to reach their own cove.

"Can we do it, old man?" asked Walter, in a low voice.

"We'll try," answered Jack, equally low. "If we give up now the girls will
get scared. We'll keep on a bit longer, and see where we come out."

"Can't you get a bit nearer in shore?" asked Norton.

"It's risky," said Jack. "It's low tide now, and while this old tub
doesn't draw much there are a lot of rocks here and there, sticking almost
up at low water. If we hit on one of them we'll be in the pot for fair.
The only thing to do is to stand out, and trust to luck. Once around the
point we'll be all right."

"They're coming in," said Walter, nodding toward Cora and the others.

"Keep out! Keep out!" cried Jack. "It's dangerous."

"But the girls want to land!" cried his sister.

"You can't now. The shore is too rocky. You'd pound her hull to pieces.
Keep on around the point. The storm won't break for