"I think I can find the place," replied Miss Liverage. "Harvey told me where it was; but I can't think of the names he used in telling me. I was pretty sure I should find the diary, when I left New York."
"If you want to go to High Rock, I will take you down there in the boat," added Leopold.
"I'm afraid of boats. Can't we go by land?"
"Not very well. My boat is as stiff as a man-of-war, and you can go a great deal easier in her than you can climb over the rocks on the other side of the river."
Miss Liverage considered the matter, and after dinner she decided to undertake the hazardous trip, as she regarded it. She had an engagement the next week in New York, and she could not remain in Rockhaven more than a day or two longer. What she did must be done at once. Mr. Bennington was astonished when he saw his son taking her out to sail on such a chilly, blustering day; but he always allowed his guests to suit themselves, and offered no objection to the expedition. Leopold seated his timid passenger in the standing-room, and shoved off the boat. In the river she made smooth sailing of it; but the instant she passed the range of the high bluff on the north shore, the No-Name plunged into a heavy sea, burying her bow deep in a foam-crested billow, whose dense spray drenched the water-proof of Miss Liverage, and it seemed to her as if the end of all things had come.
"Mercy on us!" screamed she, trying to rise from her seat, as the bow of the boat was lifted far up by the wave.
"Sit down, Miss Liverage," said Leopold, pushing her back into her seat.
"We shall be drowned!" cried the terrified passenger.
"This is nothing; the boat is doing first rate," answered Leopold.
"I shall be wet to the skin," she added, as another cloud of spray was dashed over her. The skipper went to the cuddy, forward, and brought from it an old oil-cloth coat, which he spread over his passenger. Though this garment protected her from the spray, the angry waves were still a vivid terror to her, and the skipper vainly assured her there was no danger. Letting off the main sheet, he put the boat before the wind, and then she rolled, pitched, and floundered, till Miss Liverage declared she was frightened out of her life.