They paddled steadily on, looking in vain for a path through the reeds, and making up their minds to a good wetting. They found, however, that the rain did not come alone. With it came a fierce gust of wind, which quickly raised white-caps on the lake. Instead of dying out as soon as the rain fell the wind blew harder and harder, and in the course of half an hour there was a heavy sea running.
The wind and sea coming from the south, while the canoes were steering east, placed the boys in a very dangerous position. The seas struck the canoes on the side and broke over them, and in spite of the aprons, which to some extent protected the cockpits of all except the Twilight, the water found its way below. It was soon no longer possible to continue in the trough of the sea, and the canoes were compelled to turn their bows to the wind and sea—the boys paddling just sufficiently to keep themselves from drifting back into the reeds.
The Sunshine and the Midnight behaved admirably, taking very little water over their decks. The Twilight “slapped” heavily, and threw showers of spray over herself, while the Dawn showed a tendency to dive bodily into the seas, and several times the whole of her forward of the cockpit was under the water.
“What had we better do?” asked Harry, who, although Commodore, had the good-sense always to consult Charley in matters of seamanship.
“It’s going to blow hard, and we can’t sit here and paddle against it all day without getting exhausted.”
“But how are we going to help ourselves?” continued Harry.
“Your canoe and mine,” replied Charley, “can live out the gale well enough under sail. If we set our main-sails close-reefed, and keep the canoes close to the wind, we shall be all right. It’s the two other canoes that I’m troubled about.”
“My canoe suits me well enough,” said Joe, “so long as she keeps on the top of the water, but she seems to have made up her mind to dive under it.”
“Mine would be all right if I could stop paddling long enough to bail her out, but I can’t,” remarked Tom. “She’s nearly half full of water now.”