Mary bearing the sole survivor of the unfortunate Hips family now came up. "I had to let the rest go," she said. "They were beyond reach. I fished this one out of the water just in time. What is the matter? Why don't you go on, Polly?"
For answer Polly pointed silently to the creeping waves at her feet.
"What are we going to do?" asked Mary in alarm.
"Stay here till the tide goes down, I suppose. This rock is never covered," said Molly.
"But we may get dreadfully splashed," returned Mary.
"I hadn't thought of that," said Polly dubiously. She looked at the rock above her, and then at her two cousins. "Which of you two could stand on my shoulders and get hold of that rock so as to draw herself up and go for help?"
"Oh, I never could do it in the world," said Mary, shrinking back.
Polly turned to Molly. "Could you?"
"I'm afraid I couldn't pull myself up so far, but I could stand and let you get on my shoulders, if you could do the pulling up part."
"I could do that easily enough," Polly told her. "I've often practiced it with the boys, and we have swung ourselves up the rocks in the mountains out home. Are you sure you can bear my weight, Molly?"