"Why do you warn him?" said Sally.
"Because it won't help him," said I.
"What?" called Billoo again, and Sally answered at the top of her lungs,
"Look—out—for—the—middle—ground!"
"Right O!" Billoo answered; "where is it?"
"Just ahead," Sally called.
Billoo turned to look, and at that moment the float, which was travelling at a good clip, ran into it.
Billoo and Randall fell flat on their faces; everybody staggered; one umbrella and two hats went overboard and drifted away, and Sally and I sat down on the pier and laughed till we were helpless.
V
The float had become a fixture in the landscape about two hundred and fifty yards out. We could converse with our friends by shouting only, and when we got tired of condoling with them and giving them assurances of our sympathy, we told them that we were going back to the house to get some more breakfast and think out what was best to be done,
"Sam," said Sally, "that's the maddest lot of men I ever saw."