"Well, we had to turn round at last and run before the wind," answered the boy, with as much of the sailor air as he could assume. "I saw it was the only thing to try for. The waves were all right if you didn't try to meet them; and we thought perhaps we should meet a ship which would take us up."
"That might have been rather nice," said Puck, "only it got so dark, and then the thunder and lightning came; and oh, how it did rain! We couldn't see anything. We felt like being all alone on the sea. I was frightened then, and Bertie was awfully sick, and Milly began to cry. I wanted to cry, too, only I thought it would be like a girl."
Esther was shivering herself at the bare picture of all these horrors. She had nothing but sympathy for the boys now, though she knew that it had been the spirit of disobedience which had prompted them to this daring escapade.
"Oh, what did you do?" she asked, in a voice that was little more than a whisper.
"We couldn't do anything but sail on and on," answered Pickle; "but Puck said,—
"Yes, we could. Milly proposed it. We all said our prayers; and Milly reminded us about Jesus walking on the water, and making the storm stop. So we asked Him to come and do the same for us."
"The storm did stop by and by," said Esther in a low voice.
"Yes, it did—almost just after we'd been praying," said Puck; "and when the rain went away and the sun came out, we saw the Swan coming after us as hard as ever it could come. Bertie thought perhaps it was Jesus coming to us on the water, but it was only Mr. Earle."
"Perhaps Jesus sent him to you," said Esther in a low voice.
"He said it was you who sent him," said Pickle the practical.