"If you are alarmed, Leopold, we can return," suggested Rosabel.
"We can hardly do that, now, for the tide has risen so high that the beach is nearly covered, and my boat would be dashed to pieces, if we have much of a squall."
"Do you think there is any danger?" asked the fair maiden, who was deeply impressed by the earnest manner of the boatman.
"I hope not," replied he, more cheerfully, for he did not wish to alarm her. "If I can only get into Dipper Bay, which is hardly half a mile from here, we shall be all right; and we may have time to run into the river."
Dipper Bay was a little inlet, almost landlocked, in which the water was deep enough to float his sloop at this time of tide, and its high rocky shores would afford him a perfect protection from the fury of any squall, or even hurricane. But Leopold felt that his chances of reaching this secure haven were but small, for the breeze was very light.
The Rosabel was but a short distance from the shore when the wind entirely subsided, and the long rollers were as smooth as glass. The lightning glared with fearful intensity, and the thunder boomed like the convulsions of an earthquake. By this time Rosabel, who had before enjoyed the sublimity of the coming storm, now began to realize its terrors, and to watch the handsome boatman with the deepest anxiety. The sails flapped idly in the motionless air, and Dipper Bay was still half a mile distant.
"Don't be alarmed, Miss Hamilton," said Leopold, as he threw off his coat and vest, dropped his suspenders from his shoulders, and rolled up his shirt sleeves above the elbows. "If the squall will keep off only a few moments, we shall be in a safe place."
The skipper evidently "meant business;" and, shipping the long oars, he worked with a zeal which seemed to promise happy results, and Rosabel began to feel a little reassured. But the sloop was too large and too broad on the beam to be easily rowed, and her progress was necessarily very slow.
"Can't I help you, Leopold?" asked the maiden, when she saw what a tremendous effort the boatman was making.
"You may take the tiller and steer for Dip Point, if you please," replied Leopold, knowing that his beautiful passenger would be better satisfied if she could feel that she was doing something.