"Hello," said Jack. "Thought you were going to do the steering."
"I was," replied Frank, "but Edwards seemed to think he could do better and I guess he is right. He says we are in for a bad gale."
"He's right," replied Jack. "I've seen the signs before. You may remember I lived on the ocean. Yes, we're in for it, I'm afraid. All we can do is run."
"That's what Edwards said."
"It'll be daylight in less than half an hour," Jack continued. "That will help some. If it will hold off that long, I'll feel better."
And the gale did hold off.
A faint gray streaked the east, making more plain the seriousness of their situation. The clouds hung heavy and low and it took no mariner to tell that a storm was brewing.
Gradually the wind increased and the little motorboat tore along before it. Now the swell of the sea became heavier. Waves rolled higher and higher and the little craft first wallowed in the trough of the sea and then climbed the gigantic waves.
"No wonder people get seasick," Frank muttered to himself.
The wind increased in violence until it blew a hurricane, but still the little motorboat did not falter; it bore on as bravely as before, climbing wave after wave swiftly and unerringly. Edwards, at the wheel, was giving a splendid example of seamanship.