Then, as they lay there, they heard the wave run on and on, whispering and waking up the echoes far inside, till the whole of the interior seemed to be alive with lapping, hissing sounds, which slowly died away as the boat sank to nearly its old level, and the light flashed in once more.
“That’s a hint to do something,” said Vince, as he rose up, finding that his head nearly touched the shell-encrusted roof.
“Yes; to force our way out,” said Mike excitedly. “We must before it’s too late.”
“It is too late, as I told you before,” said Vince sharply. “Look for yourself. Can’t you see that the arch is too small for the sides of the boat to get through? and at any moment another of those waves may come in. It’s all right, Ladle, if you’ll only be firm.”
“I’ll be as firm as you are,” said the boy angrily.
“Then help me push her along.”
Mike pressed his hands against the roof, Vince did the same; and they both thrust hard, but in spite of all the boat did not stir.
“Why, you’re pushing to send it in,” said Mike.
“And you to drive it out! What nonsense! This place is sure to get bigger inside, where the water has washed it out. We must get right in, beyond where the water rises.”
Mike shuddered; for the silence and darkness of the place would, he felt, be horrible, and all the time he knew that the water would be gradually chasing them, like some terribly fierce creature, bent on suffocating them in its awful embrace.