And then she came over the rail and leaped lightly into the boat. Browning aided Paula, after giving Frank a helpless look.
"We can't get out of it," whispered Merry. "We'll row them round a while, and then we'll bring them back to the yacht."
Bruce had brought out a repeating rifle from Frank's
supply of arms in the cabin, and that was placed in the prow of the boat. Both girls sat on the stern seat.
With a double set of oars the boys pulled off from the yacht. It was a strange spectacle to see Bruce Browning handling an oar, but he had been a famous all-round athlete when he first entered Yale, and he had not forgotten how to row.
They asked the girls where they wished to go, and Paula answered:
"Oh, anywhere."
Under other circumstances, Browning might not have been so willing to pull at an oar, but he knew Diamond was gnawing his heart out, and the big fellow had developed a sudden satisfaction in tormenting the Virginian.
A distant island attracted the girls. On a ledge near it was a flock of white gulls, covering the ledge so it looked as if it were a mass of snow. They pulled toward the island.
The gulls proved shy and keen of sight, for they began to leave the ledge shortly after the boat drew away from the yacht, and half the distance to the island had not been covered before not a gull remained on the ledge.