“What is to be done? How on earth are we to get her back?”
“She has floated so far—too far, I am afraid, for anyone to swim after her.”
“I could not last out such a distance. It seems a risky thing to attempt, much too risky. It would not improve matters to have a drowning case into the bargain. I am afraid none of us dare attempt it.”
Then there was a pause, while the girls huddled together in a group, watching the men’s faces with anxious glances. Arthur stood frowning and biting his moustache, his eyes bright with anger.
“I should like to shoot myself for my stupidity! Why could I not have thought of the tide when we were beaching the boat? It would have been just as easy to drag her up a few yards higher, and then we should have been safe. We should not have been in such a stupid hurry to be finished, but I heard Peggy’s voice calling to me and—”
“Oh no, no! Don’t say it—don’t say it! Arthur, Arthur, don’t say it was my fault!” cried Peggy in a voice of such agonised distress as startled the ears of her companions. Arthur’s eyes turned from the boat for the first time, and he hastened to her side.
“Why, Peg,” he cried, “what’s the matter, dear? Nobody was blaming you; there is not a shadow of blame to be laid on you. The fault is ours for not giving more thought to what we were about. Rob and I ought to know how to beach a boat by this time, seeing the amount of yachting we have done in our day, but, indeed, I don’t need to blame any one but myself; I was in charge, and should have taken proper care.”
“Well, it is not much use discussing who is to blame; the mischief is done, and we had better set our wits to work to remedy it,” cried the little chaperon briskly. “If the boat cannot be brought back, I suppose it means that we must stay here until—”
“Oh, how exciting! It’s just like the Swiss Family Robinson, and Leila on the Desert Island. It’s as good as being shipwrecked, without any of the bother,” interrupted Mellicent gushingly. “Now, then, we must make a tent, and examine the trees to see which are good to eat, and catch crabs and lobsters, and shoot the birds as they fly past, and Professor Reid shall be the father—the wise, well-informed man who knows what everything is, and how everything should be done—and Esther shall be his wife, and—”
“Mellicent, don’t! Don’t be silly, dear!” pleaded Esther gently. “It is not a subject for jokes. Seriously, Arthur, how long may we have to stay? Is there any chance of being left here for the night?”