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Page 33
[Illustration: Madge and Tom went gayly down to the boat.]
It was a glorious day with a stiff breeze blowing. The water was
fairly choppy, but the boat sped along, occasionally dashing the spray
into the two young faces. Madge wore a white cloth cap, with a visor,
such as ship's officers wear, and looked as nautical as she felt. Both
Tom and Madge were possessed with an unusual fondness for the water,
and their common love of the sea was a strong bond between them.
"Have you ever heard of any one who could have locked you up in the old
hut that night?" Tom asked as they sailed along.
Madge shook her head. "No; I have not the faintest idea. To tell you
the honest truth, I had almost forgotten that unpleasant experience.
We have been having such a beautiful time since that we haven't had
time to think of disagreeable things."
"Do you think it is safe for five women to be aboard that houseboat by
themselves?" asked Tom anxiously. "If your boat were farther out on
the water you would be safer."
Madge laughed merrily. "Look here, Mr. Curtis, I don't think it is
fair for you to question our safety when there are five of us, Wouldn't
Phil be angry if she heard you say that! It makes her furious to hear
a man or boy even intimate that girls can't take care of themselves.
Why, we can swim and run and jump, and we could put up a really brave
fight if it were necessary. Besides, Nell and I know how to shoot.
Uncle taught us when we were very little girls. I have been duck
shooting with him along this very bay. Look at that rowboat back
there. I have been watching it for some time. It has been trying to
follow us."
Tom turned about. The boat was only a skiff, and, though it was nearly
in their course, there was no chance of its coming any closer, as their
boat was sailing before the wind.
"I believe it is the same skiff I saw this morning," commented Tom. "I
suppose it is some fellow who has been fishing out here. Just think of
the fish in this wonderful bay--perch and pike and bass and a hundred
other kinds! You must help me catch some of them some day."
"All right, I will," promised Madge merrily. As they went farther out
into the bay they grew strangely silent. The spell of the sea was upon
them and they were content to sail along, exchanging but little
conversation. Chesapeake Bay was apparently in one of its most amiable
moods and, lured on by its apparent good nature, Tom grew a trifle more
reckless than was his wont and did not turn about to begin the homeward
sail as soon as he had originally intended.
It was Madge who broke the spell. "I think we had better start back.
Perhaps I merely imagine it, but it seems to me that the sun isn't
shining as brightly as it shone a little while ago. I know the bay so
well. It is so wonderful, but so treacherous. I was once out on it in
a sailboat during a sudden squall and I am not likely to forget it."
Madge gave a slight shudder at the recollection.
"All right," agreed Tom, "I'll turn about, but there isn't the
slightest danger of a squall to-day." He brought his little craft
about and headed toward the beach.
In spite of his assurance that there would he no squall, a black,
threatening cloud had appeared in the sky, and now the wind shifted,
blowing strongly toward land. Tom, who was nothing if not a sailor,
managed the boat so skilfully that Madge's apprehensions were soon
quieted and she gave herself up to the complete enjoyment of rushing
along in the freshened breeze.
They were within a mile of their landing place when, off to their right
and a little ahead of them, Madge spied the rowboat they had seen at
the beginning of their sail.
The boat was now tossing idly on the waves, and its sole occupant, a
young man, was trying vainly to guide it with a single oar.
"There is that boat again," called Madge to Tom, who was busy with his
sails. "I believe the young man in it is in trouble and is signaling
to us for help."
As Tom drew nearer to the rowboat the other man in it called out: "Say,
can't you take me aboard? I've lost an oar, and it's a pretty tough
job trying to get ashore with one oar in a sea like this."
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