Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/110

92 strong arm to help him on each side, he was hardly able to struggle along the path. His protests that there was nothing wrong, nothing  wrong at all, became ever louder and more incoherent until it was plain to all three of his  companions that he was rapidly growing light-headed.

When they came to the causeway, moreover, they discovered a fact that Billy, in his ignorance of the ocean’s ways, had failed to  count upon. The tide was at the wrong stage, and the water too deep over the stepping stones  to permit of a safe passage across.

“What a nuisance,” exclaimed Billy, utterly exasperated both with the forces of nature and with himself, “how could I have been so stupid as to forget!”

“If we only hadn’t sent the launch back!” remarked the sailor. “But our orders were she was not to wait at all. I don’t understand myself what the whole thing is about, but I  suppose the captain does.”

“We’ll have to go around by the road,” the other said, “but there’s one thing sure, the old  man can’t make it that far.”

It was very plain that Captain Saulsby had dragged himself as far as he could, for he