Country life -- Juvenile fiction; Girls -- Juvenile fiction; Grandparents as parents -- Juvenile fiction
But they were not fated to reach the Point that night, for the wind
changed, and in spite of all efforts to keep on their way, the little
boat was blown farther and farther out into the great, wide waters of
the bay.
"Is there any danger?" questioned Tommy as the foam boiled up on each
side of the boat, drenching both himself and Judy, whose face, white as
a pearl, showed through the gloom.
But Judy did not answer at once. She waited until she could make
herself heard in a lull of the wind, and then she admitted, "We shall
have to stay out all night, I am afraid."
"All night," gasped Tommy. "Oh, Judy, ain't it awful."
"No," said Judy, calmly, "not if we are not silly and afraid."
"Oh, I'm not afraid," swaggered Tommy, "only I wish we hadn't come," he
ended, weakly, as the boat swooped down into the trough of a wave, and
then rose high in the air.
"You should have told me it wasn't safe," he complained presently, "you
knew it was going to storm, didn't you?"
"Well, I like that--" Judy stared at him. "Oh, try to be a man,
Tommy, if you are a coward."
Tommy winced. "I'm not afraid," he defended.
"Perhaps not," said Judy, slowly, "but--but--if you had been a man you
would have said, 'I am sorry I asked you to bring me, Judy.'"
"But--"
"Oh, we won't argue." Judy raised her voice as another blast came.
"I--I'm too tired to--to argue--Tommy--"
She swayed back and forth, holding on to the tiller weakly.
"I--I am so--tired," she tried to laugh, but her face was ghastly.
"I--I guess I wasn't very nice just now, Tommy,--but I--am--so tired.
You will have to steer, Tommy."
"But I don't know how," blubbered Tommy.
"You will just have to do it. I can't sit up--" and Judy tumbled down
into the bottom of the boat, completely worn out from the unaccustomed
strain.
Tommy whimpered in a frightened monotone as he grasped the tiller with
inexperienced hands. What if Judy were dead? What--? "I'll never do
it again. I'll never run awa--" but Judy did not hear, for she lay
with her eyes shut in a sort of stupor in the bottom of the boat.
She was waked by a bump and the wash of the waves over the boat.
"We've struck somewhere, Tommy," she shrieked.
"Oh, oh," howled Tommy, "we'll drown, Judy!"
"We won't," she said, tensely. "Hush, Tommy. _Hush_--do you hear?
Can you swim?"
"No," and he clutched hold of her as another wave broke over the boat.
"There's a life-belt here somewhere," and Andy threw things out in
frantic haste. "Here. Take hold of it, Tommy."
"But--what are you going to do?"
"I can swim. Don't mind about me, and if you keep quiet I will tow you
in if we are near land."
She said it quietly, but in her heart she wondered where she would tow
him.
"Don't take hold of me," she insisted, peremptorily, as she felt Tommy
grab her arm, "or we shall both go under--oh--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account