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Outdoor Girls at Ocean View

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<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> <h3>THE MEN IN THE BOAT</h3> "Oh! Oh!" screamed Grace. "We'll be drowned!" "Nonsense! Keep quiet!" commanded Will, with the authority only a brother could have displayed on such an occasion. His stern voice had the desired effect and Grace ceased clinging to her chums with a grip that really endangered them. "Oh, I'm so sorry I was silly!" she exclaimed contritely, as the big wave passed harmlessly under the sailboat. Then the craft swung behind a projecting point of land and they were in calmer waters. Allen had let the sail come down on the run, and all danger of capsizing was over. The wind still blew in fitful gusts, however, and the rain, which had been holding off, came down in a drenching shower. "Get out the mackintoshes!" cried Roy, for those garments had been brought with them at the suggestion of Old Tin-Back. Protected now against the downpour, and in[62] calmer waters, the young people were themselves once more. The jib gave way enough to the craft for Allen to head it toward a little dock which seemed to be the landing place of the neighborhood fishermen. "What are you going to do?" asked Will. "Stay here until the storm is over?" "Might as well," Allen answered. "And yet—hello! What's that?" he interrupted himself suddenly, pointing out to the bay. "A motor boat broken loose from its mooring," answered Roy. "And if it isn't the Pocohontas I miss my guess!" added Amy's brother. "That's right!" declared Allen. "John's repair shop is in this cove. He must have anchored her out, and the storm tore her loose. He evidently doesn't know it." "Well, we know it!" cried Will, "and she'll be on those rocks in a few minutes more. See! She's drifting right toward them!" It needed but a glance to disclose this. The drifting motor boat, under the influence of wind and waves, was heading straight toward some half-submerged but sharp rocks that were a danger-point in the little cove. "What's to be done?" demanded Roy. "You must save your boat, that's certain!"[63] put in Betty, thus sustaining her reputation as a Little Captain. "We've got to," said Will. "But to take you girls out there again——" "Don't you dare do it, in this storm!" broke in Grace, for the wind and rain had now reached their height. "Can't you land us?" asked Betty, taking in the situation at a glance. "That will be best. Put us on shore and then this boat will be so much easier to handle. The wind is right, and you can get the Pocohontas before she goes on the rocks." "She's got the idea," declared Allen, admiringly. "We can save our boat, if we hustle." "Then—'hustle'!" cried Betty, with a little blush, as she shook her head to rid her flashing eyes of raindrops. "Put us ashore at the dock, and save the Pocohontas." "But what will you do?" asked Allen. "I don't like to leave you on the beach alone." "We four girls won't be lonesome," declared Mollie. "It isn't the first time we've roughed it. Besides, there is some sort of a fisherman's shanty there. We'll go inside, if the storm gets too bad. But I think it is going to clear." Indeed there were indications that the weather at least was going to get no worse. There was[64] a hasty conference among the boys, who cast anxious eyes toward their drifting boat. Then the sailing craft was worked up to the little dock, and the girls sprang out. "We'll come back for you," promised Will. "If you can't it will be all right," Betty assured him. "We can walk back along the beach after the storm. It isn't more than a mile or two, and we haven't done very much walking lately." "Well, we'll see what happens," spoke Allen, anxious to get out to the Pocohontas, which was dangerously near the rocks. The girls paused on the dock a moment, to watch the boys beating back out over the bay, and then turned to go up the beach. They had never been on this part of the coast before. It was lonesome and deserted, save for one rather shabby hut just above high-water mark. Over beyond some distant sand dunes, the boys had been told, was the establishment of the boat-builder, where they had taken their craft to have a new magneto put in. "Shall we go in and ask for shelter?" asked Amy, as they neared the hut. "Well, it's raining pretty hard," returned Grace. "Oh, don't let's go in!" said Betty, suddenly,[65] as she looked at a window of the hut. "It's much nicer outside." "But it's raining so!" protested Mollie, with a quick look at her chum. "I know. But we're neither sugar nor salt, and this isn't the first rain we've been out in. Besides, I'm sure, in there, it will smell of—fish! I can't bear to be shut up in a stuffy cabin that smells of fish. I vote we stay out. See, it is beginning to clear already," and she pointed to a streak of light in the west. "Is that your real reason—a dislike of the smell of—fish?" asked Mollie, in a low voice, that Betty alone could hear. "Not exactly, no," was the reply, equally guarded. "I happened to catch a glimpse of some faces at the window of that hut, and I did not like the look of them—they were—ugh! I don't know what to say," and Betty gave a slight shiver that was not caused entirely by the chilling rain. "I saw them, too," spoke Mollie, in louder tones now, for Grace and Amy had walked on ahead. "And one of them was—a woman's face." "Yes, but such a face!" agreed Betty. "It was hard—cruel—oh, I'll never go in that hut." "Nor will I. The rain is stopping, I think." "Then let's walk back to Ocean View," pro[66]posed Betty. "What do you say, girls?" she called to Amy and Grace. "Shall we walk back? It's stopping, and the sand will be firm and hard after the rain." "I don't mind," spoke Amy, always willing to be accommodating. "Oh, well, I suppose we'll have to, if the boys don't come for us," assented Grace. "They won't be back for some time," declared Betty. "See, they have just reached the boat, and in time, too, I think. A little later she would have been on the rocks." Allen and his chums had indeed been fortunate in saving the Pocohontas. Through the clearing air the girls watched them preparing to tow the motor craft back. "It will be some time before they can come for us," repeated Betty. "We might as well go on." "But they won't know where we are," objected Grace, who did not altogether relish the idea of walking. She was wearing shoes with very high heels. "They'll understand," responded Betty. "See, they are looking this way. I'll give them some sign language they'll understand," and she began waving her arms, and pointing in the direction of Ocean View, down the coast.[67] "Who in the world will understand that?" demanded Mollie. "Allen will," answered Betty. "Oh!" exclaimed Mollie with a laugh. "Then this isn't the first time you have talked with him in sign language." "Silly!" protested Betty. "Come on, girls," and she strode off down the wet sands. The rain had almost stopped. "This is better than waiting back in that hut," observed Mollie, walking beside the Little Captain. "I should say so!" exclaimed Betty. "Oh, those horrid faces." "Just like smugglers!" declared Mollie. "What's that about smugglers?" demanded Grace, quickly, turning around. She was in advance with Amy. "Oh—nothing," spoke Betty, and Grace resumed her talk with her other chum. The girls walked along the beach. Now a turn of the coast hid the boys from sight, and their work of towing back the drifting motor boat. "Oh, it's farther than I thought!" sighed Grace, as the atmosphere became clearer, and, some distance down the coast they could see the little village of Ocean View. "Oh, it isn't far at all!" declared Betty. "We[68] haven't done enough walking lately, that's the reason. We'll soon be there." As the girls made a turn around some high sand dunes they heard the staccato puffing of a motor boat. "Can that be the boys?" asked Mollie, quickly. "Of course not! They are away behind us," declared Betty, "and that sound came from in front. See, there it is—a motor boat," and she pointed to one just leaving the shore of a little cove. Several men had evidently just leaped into the craft which, because of the shallow water, had to be shoved some distance out. Then a strange thing happened. The men appeared to be surprised at the sight of the girls—an unexpected sight, it would appear—for some of them seemed anxious to put back, while others were urgent for keeping on out into the bay. "That's queer!" commented Betty. "What?" asked Amy. "Those men seem anxious to come back; at least, some of them do, and others don't," went on Betty. "Look, they seem to be quarreling among themselves!"[69] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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