And so the minutes passed by as if they were hours, with the tide creeping up around the lads higher, higher, till just as Bert's shoulders were about to disappear into its cold embrace, George exclaimed:
"A light! a light! Look, Bert, it's coming this way!"
And now both boys strained their eyes to see if they might hope, and then cried out with all their might.
Nearer and nearer came the welcome beacon, casting a shining pathway before it over the waters, and soon answering shouts were echoed back, and a girl's voice rang out, "George! Bertie!" and the next moment Captain Sam's boat shot into view, with the "jack-light" on the bow, and Sarah sitting pale and anxious in the stern.
Tenderly Sam's strong arms lifted the two shivering lads on board, and their sister fell to weeping and laughing over them in the most confusing fashion.
On the way back George told the story of their captivity on the flats, and the Captain explained that soon after they had left him in the afternoon he had gone to Fayetville to see his daughter, not getting back till after supper, when he found Sarah rushing up and down the shore in a most distracted state of mind.
"But we've got lots of crabs," put in Bert, from his seat on the car, which he had guarded safely through it all. "And George was real brave, too. He didn't cry once."
"We've lost our boat, though, I'm afraid," returned his brother, anxious to change the conversation.
"Oh, I guess we'll find her somewheres 'long shore to-morrow," replied Sam; and they did, and afterward took good care not to practice false economy by having an old worn-out rope to their anchor.
The next day the lads' adventure was known all over Yorking, and in future the other crabbers treated them in quite a respectful manner, evidently thinking that now the Fielden boys had really earned the right to follow the business.