“It isn’t,” declared Joe, taking part in the talk for the first time. “Down at the mouth of the Kennebec River there’s a whole club of boys who have learned to do just what we do.”
“You may try to make out that you’re not brave and manly,” laughed Elsie, “but I shall keep on believing that you are.”
“That’s why I wish, sometimes, I could be a boy and grow up to be a man,” added Jessie.
“I guess a woman can find enough chance to show bravery,” Tom answered thoughtfully.
“Oh, how the boat is rolling,” cried Elsie, lurching as the “Meteor” rolled over to port.
Jed, who had just lowered the glass after a look at the Dunstan flagstaff, caught her lightly by one elbow, steadying her.
“If you brace your feet, just this way,” explained Jed, illustrating the idea with his own feet, “the roll won’t carry you off your balance.”
Both girls practiced it, laughing gayly over having learned a new trick on shipboard.
“Mr. Dunstan said something about your going only a certain distance away from his place,” observed Miss Elsie presently.
“We must keep within sight of the flagstaff; that is, we mustn’t go so far that we’d fail to see a signal through the glass,” Tom explained.