"All aboard, everybody!" sang out Jack. And then turning to his cousins he added in a low voice: "We mustn't lose a minute of time in getting back. This blow is going to be a heavy one."
The girls were soon seated in the rowboats, and then the four Rovers lost no time in casting off from the little dock and in starting to row towards Clearwater Hall. As they proceeded, the sky kept growing darker and darker while the wind grew stronger and stronger.
"We're in for a squall all right enough," murmured Randy, as he and Andy bent to their oars with vigor.
"Gee! I only hope we can reach the shore before it strikes us," was the response.
"Row for all you're worth, boys!" sang out Jack from the other boat. "Bend to it just as if you were in a race!"
And then he and Fred, as well as the twins, settled down to the task of trying to outrace the oncoming squall.
CHAPTER XX
IN GREAT PERIL
As those who have had any experience know, a squall on a lake encircled by hills sometimes comes up very quickly, and this is what happened in the present case. Hardly had the two rowboats covered a quarter of the distance to the shore, when the wind came whistling across the bosom of the lake, sending the whitecaps tumbling in all directions.