"Get a move on, you fellows!" commanded Rex. "Never know what may happen——"
"There he is!" shouted Hicks from the shore. "He's come up."
"There's a pretty breeze," said Kingdon. "Up with the sail! I wish I'd tinkered with this old engine instead of fooling around on shore to-day."
Midkiff gave the flywheel a sharp turn. The spark began to sputter.
"What's the matter with that?" cried Red. "And she pos-i-tive-ly refused to say a word out there when that squall struck us yesterday."
"Great!" laughed Kingdon. "Give her some gas. That's the boy! Never mind the sheet."
The Spoondrift began to move, and Kingdon shoved the tiller down. Hicks shouted again from the shore:
"That man's goin' to have him overboard! There—she—blo-o-ows!"
The constable, perhaps more frightened than hurt, had come to the surface, blowing bubbles and sputtering like a bad exhaust. The moment the canoe came within reach, he had seized its gunwale.
Only one thing could happen then—to a canoe. She dipped and shipped several buckets of water. Pence began to bawl: