"All right. We'll stay here," announced Alice. "I don't want to make that trip again with my lame ankle," and she sat down in a niche of the rocks. The others followed her example. The minutes passed quickly in pleasant talk, but presently Paul jumped to his feet. There was alarm in his action. "What's the matter?" asked Ruth, startled. "Look!" he said. He pointed toward the shore. The path of rocks was broken midway by a stretch of water. The tide had risen, cutting off the retreat to the beach. CHAPTER X TOO MUCH REALISM "Oh dear!" exclaimed Ruth. It seemed a silly, futile thing to say, but, perhaps, very natural under the circumstances. Ruth arose, and put her arms about her sister, who tottered a little as she stood upright. "The tide has risen?" asked Alice, and her tone was questioning. "That's what has happened," went on Paul. "Pshaw! I ought to have kept watch of it. Russ was gone longer than I thought. But here we are now, fairly caught." "Can't we--can't we wade back to shore?" faltered Alice. "I wouldn't like to have you try it," answered Paul, and he moved over closer to the girl. "Why not?" she asked. "I'm not at all afraid of getting wet, and it can't be so very deep over those rocks--not yet." "It isn't that you would get wet," Paul answered. "But the rocks were slippery enough as they were. Covered with water, as they now are between us and the shore, I'm afraid you'd slip off, especially as your ankle will give you a twinge if you twist it." "It certainly will," agreed Alice. "It hurts worse now. But oh! We must get back to shore!" she exclaimed. "We must!" "We--I--I think I could lift her over the place where the water is," said Ruth. "But you might both slip in," objected Paul. "And the water is quite deep on either side of this ledge of rocks. You see the ocean washes in against them, and scoops out the sand. So that there is a deep channel, ten feet or more, right alongside of the ledge of rocks. If you fell in there----" "Oh, don't speak of it!" begged Alice. "I wouldn't mind swimming if I were prepared for it but it isn't exactly Summer yet, and with a disabled foot----" "It isn't to be thought of," finished Ruth. "But we _must_ get ashore somehow, Paul. The water is getting higher every minute." "Yes, the tide has just begun to come in," said the young actor. "I should have noticed it before, but I didn't. Now I wonder--" He did not finish, but gazed back toward the beach, nearly a quarter of a mile away. To his surprise, and also alarm, not one of the members of the moving picture company was in sight. "That's strange," thought Paul, but he did not speak his thought aloud. "Oh!" screamed Alice, so suddenly as to startle them all. "What is the matter?" demanded Ruth. "A wave splashed right up behind me! Look!"