“I don’t quite like to go on Sunday evening,” said the girl. “But we wouldn’t stay long, would we?”
“Oh, no, only till the sun went down! And we have just come from church, so where’s the harm?”
So a little rowboat was engaged for an hour, and two happy persons pushed off the Jersey Island coast. They chatted merrily as the red and yellow of the clouds played on the waters, and let the boat half drift toward the sunset.
Suddenly the young man dropped one of the oars. A shade of fear passed over Louise Arnot’s face.
“Can you reach it?” she asked anxiously.
“Oh, yes, don’t fear!” and he took the other oar and guided the boat toward the missing paddle.
The breeze was blowing off the land, and increasing. The boat was not easily managed with one oar, and the cheery face of young Farneaux grew a little troubled as the oar drifted faster than the boat.
Anxiety does not give a steady hand, and before he knew it the other oar had slipped from his grasp.
Miss Arnot’s face grew white. “What shall we do? We are drifting out to sea. Would they see us if we were to signal to the shore? Ours is the only boat out. Oh! why did we start at all?”