Page:Fairview Boys at Lighthouse Cove.djvu/91

Rh big bay. But of course the ocean is different. However, I'll just hurry through and maybe we can get back before she blows too hard. I think we'll have a bite to eat now, for we may not get time later. Here, one of you boys take the wheel. There's a straight course now, and I'll get out the things and make some coffee."

This was soon done, and the boys sat about, eating the sandwiches Silas made. They were having the time of their lives, and the fact that in the West a big bank of black clouds was gathering, from which now and then lightning flashed, did not worry them. They were sure they would get back all right.

Silas had to stop at a small dock, not far from the inlet, where an old sailmaker had his shanty. The fisherman was to call for a sail for one of his neighbors.

Silas made fast the Skip in a hurry, and, leaping out on the dock, called to the boys:

"Wait here until I come back. I won't be long. Then we'll head for Lighthouse Cove."

"All right," answered Bob. "We'll be all right."

The darkness had increased because of the clouds, and now a strong wind sprang up. It whipped the waters of the channel into whitecaps, and this, with the strong tide that was running, made the Skip strain hard at her mooring rope.

The wind blew harder, and then with a sudden outbreak of fury the storm broke, the rain coming down in such torrents that the boys could not see the shanty of the sailmaker.

"Get in the cabin!" cried Sammy.

"That's right!" yelled Frank. "We'll be soaked here!"

They tumbled into the cabin, which was below the level of the cockpit deck, and pulled the sliding doors shut.

"Now we're all snug—let her rain!" cried Bob.

And rain it did. The pelting drops made so much noise