This little mishap occupied only a few seconds of time, but during that period the other boat went ahead a good hundred feet. Gif and his followers were rowing with all their might, bound to put all the distance possible between themselves and their competitors.
“Swing into it! Swing!” cried Jack. “We’ve got to catch up! Now then—all together and make her jump out of the water!”
Jack had always been the leader of the four cousins, and they obeyed his instructions as best they could. They put in every ounce of their strength on the oars, and slowly but surely their craft began to overtake the other rowboat.
“Pull, you duffers, pull!” cried Gif, as he saw the Rovers crawling up. “We’re almost to the island! Pull, or they’ll overtake us!”
He increased the stroke and Spouter and Dan followed. But this speed was too great for poor Ned Lowe, and all of a sudden Ned’s oar came up with a tremendous splash that showered everybody in the boat with water. Then Ned lost his balance and he and Spouter came close to falling overboard. The craft slued around directly in the path of the second rowboat.
“Stop rowing! Back water!” cried Jack, as the sudden shouts ahead warned him that something was wrong. He gave a quick glance around, as did his oar mates, and then he and Fred threw their craft out of the course. An instant later the oars of the boats scraped each other. But then the craft separated.
“Some narrow escape, I’ll say,” declared Randy, when the momentary danger was over.
“What’s the matter with you fellows, anyway?” called out Fred.
“Ned lost his stroke, that’s all,” answered Gif.
“Lost his stroke and gave us a shower bath at the same time,” put in Dan.