They sat there for a long while, Bluff and Will looking this way and that, to see if there was any object near by; but only that heavy blanket of sea fog surrounded them.
"Do you hear the roll of the water on the shore still?" asked Frank finally.
"I haven't for some time, now," admitted Bluff.
"And I was just wondering, as I sat here and watched the water as it flowed past, whether we were not drifting out further all the time," suggested Will.
"Say! what makes you think that? Seems to me you're always scaring up ghosts, and making things look blacker than they are," grumbled Bluff.
"Well, you just watch that water passing. What does that mean, eh? Something is moving all the while, and it's either the boat or the tide," claimed Will.
Frank stuck his head over the side and gave a look.
"He's right about it," was his speedy comment. "The tide is carrying us out all the time, and that's why you don't hear the sound of the rollers on the sand!"
"Wow! You're giving it to us good and hard now. That sounds like trouble. This old gulf is some wide, I know, and it'll take us quite a spell to cross the duck pond at this rate!" exclaimed Bluff in dismay.
"Can't either of you find out what's wrong with the engine?" asked Will.