Dave got the lead, and, with Joe close at his heels, he reached the woods; and there discovering that they had the race to themselves, and the other boys calling "Time! time!" at the top of their voices, they both cried "Quits," and dropped together by a blueberry patch, where, as soon as they recovered breath, they began to pick and eat. They waited there until their companions came up; and then, tired of racing, the party sauntered lazily along, picking berries by the way.
"No John or Jerry here yet?" said Maurice Perry, as they came near the rendezvous.
"We can find the place easy enough though," said Ned Gould. "It was near that rock with a peaked top, John said."
The whole troop of boys leaped down from rock to rock along the boulder-strown shore, until they reached the rock spoken of as a landmark.
"I don't believe the tide is low enough," said Joe, peering into one pool after another. "Hullo! there are John and Jerry.--Hullo there! Come, find your 'puddle.' We can't."
"Good reason why. It's covered up with water. The tide isn't low enough. There it is, right there; but you've got to wait till the tide is down, and the water in the 'puddle' settles."
After a while, a standing-place on the outer edge of the pool was free from water, and as many of the boys as possible crowded upon it.
"You'd better get off that. A big wave will come and give you a duckin'," said John laughing.
The boys were hesitating whether to heed the advice, when a shout went up from the crowd higher up on the rocks.
"Jump! Quick! You'll be ducked!"