"Great grief! Do I want to marry Lorna or not? I wonder!" He cast another glance at her over his shoulder. She still sat on the bench. She had shaken the curls over her face, and her red lips were pursed in a most adorable pout. Ralph sighed hugely, shrugged his shoulders, and looked forward again. It certainly was a puzzle! Suddenly he saw something that brought a cry from his lips. Lorna jumped up and ran to him, clinging to his arm and pressing close against him as she looked over his shoulder. "Oh! do you see it, Ralph?" she cried. He pointed. The dory heaved into view again on another billow—a dark patch upon the slate-colored sea. "Can we catch it?" breathed Lorna in his ear, a curl brushing his flushing cheek. "To be sure," and he moved aside. "You take hold here. She doesn’t kick much. Steady now!" "Oh!" she pouted, "I can manage the old wheel well enough," and she crowded in beside him. She had rolled up the sleeves of his storm jacket, and her little brown hands gripped the wheelspokes in a most capable fashion. Ralph stepped back and allowed her to take his place. He grew cool again and grinned to himself. She certainly was one plucky girl! He had no idea that he had overlooked a chance that perhaps would never be offered to him again. He got a bucket from below and then coiled down a length of halyard and held the end of it in readiness as Lorna brought the _Fenique_ rubbing alongside the wallowing dory. Ralph went over the side, carrying the rope and bucket with him and stood knee deep in water in the dory’s bottom. He bent on the line and gestured to the girl to bear off so as to drag the dory astern of the motor-boat. Then he went to work to bail out with the bucket. This was a hard fight at first, for the waves were still boisterous. Every now and then one broke over the dory and came near to filling it as full as it was when Ralph got aboard. But the young fellow persevered. If he possessed one characteristic stronger than another, it was stubbornness. At this juncture it proved to be a virtue. He plied the bucket steadily, and at last lowered the water in the dory so that he could afford to take breath. "Good boy, Ralphie," shouted Lorna, down wind, and he looked up to see her elfin face all asmile again for him. He waved his hand cheerily. "Shall I tune her up a little?" she asked. "Little at a time, Kid! That’s the boy!" He had spoken to her that way ten years before when they were in the middle of some adventurous escapade. Lorna flushed and turned away her face again. More than a pout expressed her vexation now. Ralph did not show a proper appreciation of her "grown-upness." She had been for the moment too kind to him! So after that, and when he had bailed the dory completely and had come inboard, Lorna snubbed him. Her fluctuating attitude certainly puzzled the young man. "Now what have I done?" he secretly wondered.