“How many of us are going to bathe to-day?” Mr. Dinsmore asked, the second morning after their arrival.

“I for one, if you will bear me company and look out for my safety,” said his wife.

“Most assuredly I will,” he answered.  “And you too, Elsie?” turning to his daughter.

“Yes, sir,” she said, “if you think you can be burdened with the care of two.”

“No, mother,” spoke up Edward, quickly; “you and Zoe will be my charge, of course.”

“Ridiculous, Ned! of course, Harold and I will take care of mamma,” exclaimed Herbert.  “You will have enough to do to look out for your wife’s safety.”

(The yacht had touched at Cape May and taken the two college students aboard there.)

“I shall be well taken care of,” their mother said, laughingly, with an affectionate glance from one to another of her three tall sons; “but I should like one of you to take charge of Rosie, another of Walter; and, in fact, I don’t think I need anything for myself but a strong hold of the rope to insure my safety.”

“You shall have more!” exclaimed father and sons in a breath; “the surf is heavy here, and we cannot risk your precious life.”

Mr. Dinsmore added, “None of you ladies ought to stay in very long, and we will take you in turn.”

“Papa, may I go in?” asked Lulu, eagerly.

“Yes; I’ll take you in,” the captain answered; “but the waves are so boisterous that I doubt if you will care to repeat the experiment.  Max, I see, is waiting his chance to ask the same question,” he added, with a fatherly smile directed to the boy; “you may go in too, of course, my son, if you will promise to hold on to the rope.  I cannot think that otherwise you would be safe in that boiling surf.”

“But I can swim, papa,” said Max; “and won’t you let me go with you out beyond the surf, where the water is more quiet?”

“Why yes, you shall,” the captain replied, with a look of pleasure; “I did not know that you had learned to swim.”

“I don’t want to go in,” said timid little Grace, as if half fearful it might be required of her.  “Mamma is not going, and can’t I stay with her, papa?”

“Certainly, daughter,” was the kind reply.  “I suppose you feel afraid of those dashing waves, and I should never think of forcing you in among them against your will.”

Betty Johnson now announced her intention to join the bathers.  “It’s the first chance I’ve ever had,” she remarked, “and I shan’t throw it away.  I’ll hold on to the rope, and if I’m in any danger I suppose Bob, or some of the rest of you, will come to my assistance?”

“Of course we will!” all the gentlemen said, her brother adding, “And if there’s a good chance, I’ll take you over to Nantucket Town, where there’s still-bathing, and teach you to swim.”

“Just what I should like,” she said.  “I have a great desire to add that to the already large number of my accomplishments.”