None seemed to come; for the steamer passed gradually before them till the other point hid her from view, and then Maude suddenly exclaimed, with a shriek, which shook the nerves of the whole party:
"The water has reached us! Oh, what shall we do? What shall we do?"
"We must pray," said Nellie, looking up towards the blue sky, "each one for ourselves."
It was an awful moment, that first wetting of their feet; worse than even when the water was up to their knees.
How intently they gazed at the corner of the rocks round which Wilmot must come!
"Halloa!" called a voice from the other side of them, and there, to their right, was a young man seated in a canoe.
"I say!" he called. "Are you in danger, or only doing it for fun?"
His eyes scanned the cliffs; not an opening of any sort; he looked in their faces, and knew it was no fun, even before they had time to answer:
"Oh, can you save us, or do anything for us?"
"If I come near," he answered steadily, "you will not all rush in and swamp the canoe?"