What happened just then Jerry-Jo could never tell, and he alone remained at the day's end for the telling!
They were in the water, all three of them! For a moment Jerry-Jo, thoroughly sobered and keener witted than he had ever been before in his life, believed he was the only one of the party ever again to appear in that angry sea. Then he saw the over-turned boat, heard the last sobbing pants of the engine as it filled with water; then Tom's black head and agonized face appeared; then Sandy's red head. They all made for the boat and the wide sail lying flat in the water!
They reached the launch, chilled and desperate, climbed upon it, and gazed helplessly at each other. Through chattering teeth they tried to speak, but only a moan escaped Tom's blue lips. The wind was colder; the sun had gone behind a bank of dull storm clouds. After a long while Sandy, looking over the expanse of ugly choppy waves, shuddered and panted:
"It's going to be dark soon; it can't be more than a half mile to yonder rock—I'm for swimming to it! Once on land we can move about, get our blood going, and perhaps find a sheltered spot—till—morning!"
Tom looked at his brother vaguely; he was suffering keenly:
"Don't be a fool!" he shuddered. Jerry-Jo, huddled in a wet heap, was sobbing like a baby—gone utterly to pieces.
Another hideous space of silence followed, then Sandy spoke again:
"I'm going to make the try. I'm dying of cold. It's the only chance for any of us. Here goes!"
And before any one could interfere he made his leap and was in the water, a bobbing speck among the ugly white caps!
"Good God!"