“Don’t ye git alarmed,” he said.  “The storm’s goin’ down, an’ we’ll come out all right when the sun rises.”

The prospect of remaining on the ocean all night was dismaying, and all of the girls wondered what Mrs. Stanhope would say when they did not return.

“I know mother will be very much worried,” said Dora soberly.

It was decided by the boys that they should take turns at lying down, each being given two hours in which to rest.  Sam was the first to turn in, but it is doubtful if he slept to any extent.  Tom followed, and then came Dick.  Captain Jerry declined, stating he could sleep when he had the party safe on shore once more.

By morning the storm had taken another turn.  It no longer rained, but the sky was murky, and there was a dense fog, which the wind blew first in one direction, and then another.  They were still running to sea, with small prospect of being able to turn back.

“This is certainly more than I bargained for,” observed Dick to Tom, in a low voice.  “To me it looks mighty serious.”

“Oh, the storm is bound to go down.”

“Yes, Tom, but how long do you suppose the provisions and water will last?”

At this question Tom’s face fell.

“I hadn’t thought of that, Dick.  I don’t suppose we have more than enough for to-day, have we?”

“Well, we might make it last two days on a pinch—­we brought quite a lot along.  But after that—­”

“Do you think we’ll have to stay out here more than two days?” demanded Sam.

“I don’t know what to think, Sam.”

“Can’t we rig up some sort of a jury-mast?”

“Captain Jerry mentioned that.  We’ll try.”

There was no stick on board of the Old Glory outside of the bowsprit, and at last they decided to saw this off and put it up as a small mast.

The task was no easy one, and just as the temporary mast was being fitted into place there came an extra heavy puff of wind which sent the yacht far over on her side.

“Hold fast, all of ye!” roared Captain Jerry, and they obeyed, and the stick went rolling over the side and out of sight in the billows.

“Gone!” gasped Tom.  “That ends putting up another mast.”

Slowly the day wore along.  The girls were silent, and if the truth be told more than one tear was shed between them, although before the boys they tried to put on a brave face.  There were no regular meals, and by the advice of Captain Jerry and Dick they were sparing of the provisions and the water.

“Our only hope now is for the storm to go down, or else to sight some passing ship,” said Dick.  “Getting back to Santa Barbara at present is out of the question.  For all we know, we may be a hundred or two hundred miles from the coast.”

About two o’clock in the afternoon the sky cleared a little.  But as the fog lifted, the wind blew with greater force, sending them reeling and plunging into the mighty waves.