“The land has disappeared!” cried Harriet.  “We are out of sight of land.  Isn’t this splendid?  How far are we out from home, Captain?”

“Nearly forty miles,” he answered, after consulting the log.  “Want to go back?”

“Oh, no!  Let’s keep on going.  How I wish we could keep on forever in this way.”

“We will go on until we meet a ship that is due here.”

“A ship!  Oh, where?” cried the girls.

The captain pointed a gnarled finger at a faint smudge on the distant horizon.

“Yonder she is,” he answered.  “Shall we go out and meet her?”

“Yes, oh, yes!” shouted the Meadow-Brook Girls gleefully.  He changed the course of the “Sister Sue” ever so little, and they went bowling along over the Atlantic rollers headed for the big liner that was approaching them at nearly thirty miles an hour.

CHAPTER XXI

AN ANXIOUS OUTLOOK

“Come out, girlth, and thee the thhip,” shouted Tommy, poking her head into the cabin.

“Go away and don’t bother me,” groaned Margery.  “Can’t you see how sick I am?”

“Ithn’t that too bad?” deplored Tommy, withdrawing her face with a most unsympathetic grin.  All those on deck were watching the black smudge on the horizon, and as they gazed it grew into a great, dark cloud.  Out of the cloud, after a time, they saw white foam flashing in the sunlight, caused by the displacement of the great ship as she forged through the summer seas.

“Shall we pass near her?” questioned Miss Elting.

“We’re right on her course,” replied the skipper.  “We’ll turn out soon, for she won’t shift her position an inch unless she thinks we’re going to run into her.  Let your boat off a point to starboard, Miss Burrell.”

“Aye, aye,” answered Harriet promptly, shifting the wheel slightly, eyes fixed on the trembling compass card.  The shift of position threw the wind directly abeam.  It was now blowing squarely against the quarter, causing the sloop to heel down at a sharp angle.  The boat fairly leaped forward, her lee rail almost buried in a smother of foam.  The eyes of the girl at the wheel sparkled with pleasure.  It was glorious.  Harriet Burrell could not remember to have enjoyed a happier moment.

“They are watching us,” announced the captain, who had been examining the oncoming ship through his glass.  “They think we may be coming out to speak to them,” he added with a chuckle.

“We don’t thpeak thhipth in the daylight,” answered Tommy, drawing a quick glance from the captain.  Harriet gave her a warning look, then devoted her attention to steering the course, glancing at the oncoming ship every now and then.

“Swing out,” directed Captain Billy.  “She throws a heavy swell.  We will cut across it at right angles passing under her stern.  I’ll tell you when to swing in so we’ll just make it.  Now, can you see the people?”