"Oh, let's be here," cried Jill. But Andy looked so stern and commanding that they did not dare to disobey. They almost fell into the cabin and shut the door Outside the wind seemed to get a voice—a voice that howled and wailed and lashed the sea into enormous waves that sent the little boat half-over every time. Tins and everything else began to fall about. The girls picked them up and put them where they could not fall.
There was a crash as the packet of records fell down. "Blow!" cried Jill. "They'll all be broken!"
So they were—all but one. It was very sad The girls carefully put the one whole record into a safe place and wondered what the boys would say when they knew. But it couldn't be helped.
Up above, on the deck, the two boys struggled with the wind and the sea. Tom had had no time to get into his jersey, so all he had on was a bathing-suit and shorts. He shivered as wave after wave splashed on him. and the wind whipped by.
The deck was wet and slippery. The dark-green waves raced by, and the boat climbed up one steep wave after another, and slid down the other side, only to climb up another enormous wave again. Up and down, up and down she went, whilst Andy struggled with the sail.
"What are you trying to do?" yelled Tom, who was at the tiller.
"Take in all the sail," shouted back Andy. "We can't go on like this. We'll be over."
But he didn't need to bother—for suddenly the sail ripped itself off the mast, flapped wildly for a second and then sped away into the sky. It was gone! Only a little rag was left, wriggling madly in the wind. The boat slowed down at once, for it no longer had the sail to take it along. But even the little rag of sail that was left was enough to take it at a good speed over the waves. Andy said nothing. He took the tiller with Tom, and together the boys faced "the storm. Thunder rolled around and crashed in the skies. Lightning flickered and lighted up the vast heaving waste of grey-black sea. Stinging rain fell every now and again, and the boys bent their heads to it and shut their eyes. The wind lashed them and the spray whipped them. If this was an adventure, there was a great deal too much of it!
"Do you think we're all right, Andy?" shouted Tom. "Are we near the island?"
"I reckon we've passed it!" yelled back Andy. "At the rate we've been going we'd have been there by now. Goodness knows where we are!"