"Don't be frightened, Olive," he said, throwing an arm round her in support, for she nearly lost her balance in the furious rocking of the boat. "Why, I could land you on shore at any point I chose, even if we did capsize. I should rather enjoy the swim than otherwise, and I believe you would, too." A blush came into the girl's face. She had caught some of his exhilaration, and gazed fearlessly at the tumbling seas. Her cheeks were wet with the salt spray, and a soft, dark tress which had escaped from its fastening kept blowing across her eyes. Very beautifully did the excitement, dashed with a tinge of apprehension, become her. "No--I am not afraid," she answered--"with you." These two young people were getting on, you see. A whirr overhead--a hurtling rush--and a wild hailstorm swept down upon the sea, curbing its fury slightly, and rendering the inmates of the boat very uncomfortable. Poor Roy, whom his master had disposed in such place as to afford the best ballast, looked simply piteous. He shivered, and in his wistful, patient eyes there was a mute appealing look, which his master noticing, could not restrain a laugh at. "Never mind, Roy, old chap. You'll be as right as nine-pence directly! Now for it! Kill or cure!" he cried, bringing round the boat's head a point and a half. A confused whirl, an upheaval as if they had left the water altogether; and--they were in the comparatively smooth water of Minchkil Bay, and running comfortably for the little fishing village. A few moments later and half a score of stalwart hands had hauled them up high and dry on the beach. "All's well that ends well!" cried Roland, helping his companion to alight. "You're in tremenjious luck, sir, that's all I've got to say about it!" said the owner of the boat dryly. "Never thought you'd have got back without a bath." "Ha-ha! In luck are we, Jem Pollock? Glad to hear you say so, because according to all the rules of that humbugging old superstition of yours we ought to have come to mortal grief. We've been exploring The Skegs." The man started, and queer looks were exchanged among the group. "Did you land there, sir?" he asked uneasily. "Land there? I should rather think we did. Climbed nearly to the top of the rock--as far as we could get. Then ran home at a ripping pace in a thundering squall and a good deal of a sea. So you see, Pollock, on your own admission, the spectre of The Skegs is a fraud of the first water. No ill luck has ensued to us from it--has it now?" "I devoutly trust it never may, sir," answered the fisherman in a queer tone. "And by the way, Pollock, that's a first-rate little craft of yours. She behaved grandly. You should have seen her run just before we rounded the point yonder. Perhaps she was eager to get away from The Skegs, ha-ha! Well, good-day, my men. Now drink my health, and confusion to my ancestral ghost," and leaving a substantial largesse with them, he turned and joined Olive.