There was another race of the multitude, and in spite of their haste the tide had crept nearly up to the place they had come to see. The waves were beginning to flow up over the barrier separating the pool from the ocean, and there was only time to secure a few specimens of star-fish and sea-urchins, and to admire the natural aquarium; then they were obliged to retreat before the rushing water.
Ben, who was lying flat on the rocks, trying to get possession of a beautiful lilac-coloured sea-anemone, would not heed the shouts and shrieks of warning from his comrades, and as a result, before he could scramble to his feet, a succession of waves rolled over him, hiding him from view. When the waves rolled back he was blowing the water from mouth and nose, and laughing as heartily as those who had been spectators of the ludicrous sight.
"The great Atlantic merman!" shouted Dave, as he rolled on the rocks in a fit of laughter.
"I got the creature though!" Ben cried triumphantly. Then seeing the mass of jelly in his hand, with no trace of the beauty he had sought to seize upon, he threw it down with an expression of disgust. "Pooh! Is that the thing? I don't want that!" he exclaimed. "Alas! I got ducked for nothing, except to make sport for the rest of you. Well, look at me and laugh all you want to," he added good-naturedly, as he tried to wring himself out. There was no need to tell the boys that, and the shrieks of laughter continued long after they started campward.
"See! see!" shouted the archers, as the boys tramped past the targets. "A wreck! a wreck! Ben Carver rescued from the briny deep."
"Why this wetness, Benjamin?" cried Henry Burnham, as he paused, with his arrow on the string.
"Oh, that was acquired in my thirst for science."
"Couldn't be satisfied without going into it head over heels, eh?"
"Here, come to our tent. I carried your valise there, Ben," said Joe. "Your teeth are chattering now; I am going to get Jonas to make you some ginger-tea. That'll warm you up, I tell you."
Away ran Joe, and by the time Ben had changed his garments, he returned with a mug.