"Fish it out with the paddle," remarked Solly, coolly.
This was intended as a joke, for the hat was already bounding far, far away over the waste of waters. Dotty knew she should always be accused of losing it, though in her secret soul she was sure the wind had blown it off. But a new hat, as we all know, is a mere trifle when we have gone to sea in a bowl! The first thing we think of is how to get home.
"Ahem!" ejaculated Solly, at last, "if you are really afraid, Lina, I suppose we'd better go ashore!"
Lina clapped her hands. "O, do! do! do!"
"Yes, indeed," said Dotty; "and, Solly, don't you bump too hard against the shore, 'cause 'twould spill us out."
It was very easy to talk about touching the shore: all the difficulty lay in being able to do it. Not that it was so very distant; indeed, it was in full sight, "so near, and yet so far!" If the wind had only been quiet, instead of "cracking its cheeks!" But, as it was, the boat rocked fearfully, and seemed to be blowing directly away from the land.
Solly and the deaf and dumb boy looked at each other with eyes which seemed to say,—
"The thing is coming to a pretty pass! Only you and I to manage this craft, and we neither of us know what we are about! But we'll keep a stiff upper lip, and make believe we do!"
"Why, Solly Rosenbug!" said Dotty, catching her breath, "you're going just the other way!"
"O, Solly Rosenberg," echoed Lina, "you're going the wrong way! There's the shore, off there!"