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Page 36
"A great gull!" she whispered, then, oh, the joy in her cry:
"'The Dolphin!' 'The Dolphin!'"
Rose scrambled to her knees.
"Oh, it is! It is! DEAR Uncle John!" she cried.
It was a quick turn from terror in the little boat to joy and safety in
the big yacht, with Uncle John, big, brave Uncle John, to care for them.
"You must tell me all about this," he said, when they were once aboard
the yacht, "but not a word until after we've had a wee lunch."
The steward brought dainty sandwiches, cakes, fruit and hot chocolate,
and the happy little trio enjoyed it heartily, partly because it was a
delicious spread, but far more because of their feeling of safety after
their terror.
The children had been frightened, but bright, cheery Uncle John had
suffered more than he would have admitted when, through his powerful
glass, he had seen the two little occupants of the rowboat crouching
close together, rocked at the will of the waves and going steadily out
to the open sea.
He knew that it would take but a short time to reach them, but would
they remember what he had so often told them?
If they should change places in the boat and thus capsize it, no yacht
could reach them in time to save them!
Now, with Polly and Rose beside him, safe and sound, he felt as if a
heavy cloud had lifted.
After the lunch had been enjoyed, Uncle John asked for the story of
their plight, and together they told it, telling of the start with
Donald, of his sullenness, his anger, and his muttered threat.
"I don't know SURELY, TRULY, what he said, but I thought he said:
"'I'll get even with them,' and Polly thought so, too," concluded Rose.
"And after he'd said that, he wouldn't talk at all," said Polly.
"And we thought he'd fastened the boat when we saw him hitching one end
of the chain to the big ring," said Rose, "and he waded out to the
shore, and ran off up the beach with another boy."
"We shouted to him, and told him not to stay long, but he didn't answer,
and didn't look back, but just kept on running until he met another boy,
and then they ran away together," said Polly.
"The other boy had a fishing pole," added Rose.
"Oh, he did, did he?" said Uncle John, "well, I wouldn't be surprised if
young Donald had a fishing outfit tucked snugly away in some cranny in
the rocks, where he doubtless found it after he left you."
"What WOULD have happened to us if you hadn't found us?" said Rose.
Uncle John Atherton's brown eyes were not twinkling as he turned to
reply, and Polly thought she saw a tear on his lashes.
His arm tightened about Rose, and he drew her closer.
"I don't like to think what MIGHT have happened to you two little
friends, alone on the open sea. I shall settle with Donald later," he
said.
"What will you do?" questioned Rose, looking up into his face with
eager, yet anxious eyes.
"Why do you ask?" he questioned.
"I wouldn't think to ask if you were smiling," said Rose, "but you look
so stern--oh, I don't care if you scold him some, but 'tho he was mean,
and naughty, don't make him feel TOO bad."
"You've a loving heart," was the quick reply, "and like all the
Athertons, you are generous."
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