Page:Claire Ambler (1928).djvu/52

 theless successfully concealed his real desperation. "Run along!" he said. "Run along and pretend you're scarin' the jellyfishes to death!"

Platter, stung, looked down upon him darkly. "All right," he said. "Don't blame me if you drown!" With that, he slid forward a strip of brass upon the wheel; the Caliph's exhaust again began to roar and the boat slapped forward into the chop. A moment later it was tossing the foam from its risen bows and beginning to speed; Nelson and the Peanut receded quickly as Claire looked back at them.

"Dear me!" she said, still laughing. "He certainly thought he was razzing us, didn't he? How funny he does look—exactly like a grasshopper on a cucumber rind! Such splashing and lurching! You'd almost think he was going to upset."

"He will if he isn't careful," Platter said crossly. "Well, it'd be his own fault. When you offer to help people at sea and they won't take it, you're supposed to let 'em alone; it's a kind of an unwritten law or something; but anyhow he's prob'ly all right. That's his sister's canoe and he ought to know how much it'll stand. He'll turn around and go back as soon as we're out of sight and he can't show off any more."

"I guess so," she returned; then she pointed to