She was making bad weather of it, for she was half-full of water, and every time she struck a wave she would bury her nose in it almost out of sight. If her two occupants realized the danger of their situation, they did not show it. They were as cool as boys could possibly be.
The one in the bow watched George’s movements with a good deal of interest, while the dignified young fellow in spectacles, who was sitting in the stern and using the butt of his double-barrel for a paddle, issued his orders with great calmness and deliberation.
“Bring your boat around head to the wind, if you can, and let us come alongside of you,” said he, addressing himself to George. “You will have to do all the work, for I have lost my paddle; and if the canoe should broach to, we’d be tumbled out into the lake before you could say ‘General Jackson’ with your mouth open.”
George saw at a glance that the dignified young gentleman knew how to handle a canoe, and that in keeping the sail hoisted he was doing the best that could be done under the circumstances. If he had attempted to make the beach, he would have brought his cranky little craft broadside to the waves, and, having no centre-board, and scarcely any bearing, she would have been overturned in an instant, leaving her crew to sink, or drift helplessly toward the rocks.
That very thing did happen to her soon. Although George tried hard to place himself directly across her bows, the canoe shot wild of him; and in his efforts to bring her alongside the scow, the skipper lost control of her, and over she went, turning completely bottom upward.
The rocks were now but a short distance away, and the noise made by the waves as they dashed over them was enough to frighten anybody. George was frightened, and his pale face showed it.
It would have been a work of no little difficulty to row a light boat away from that dangerous spot; but to wait there long enough to pick up a couple of boys who were tossed about by the waves, now here, now there, and always just out of reach, to rescue them and then save himself, was a task requiring great skill and prudence.
George looked at the rocks and then he looked about for the canoe’s crew. To his great joy they arose to the surface, one after the other, and they were close ahead of him, too. One was near enough to seize the gunwale of the scow, while the other promptly laid hold of the oar that was thrust out toward him.
“Where’s Goggles?” asked the first, wiping the water out of his eyes, and looking around to find his companion.
“He’s all right!” answered George. “Climb in—quick! Not over the side, for your weight will capsize the scow. Go around to the stern. Be lively now, or the waves will throw us on the rocks.”