“We’ll row you round there.  Can’t land, but you can see the place and shout to the others, if that will be any comfort to you,” proposed Frank, as they pulled away round the pier.

“Oh, yes, that would be lovely!” and Jill smiled at Jack, who was steering, for she found it impossible to be dismal now with the fresh wind blowing in her face, the blue waves slapping against the boat, and three good-natured lads ready to gratify her wishes.

Away they went, laughing and talking gayly till they came to Goodwin’s Rocks, where an unusual number of people were to be seen though the tide was going out, and no white spray was dashing high into the air to make a sight worth seeing.

“What do you suppose they are about?  Never saw such a lot of folks at this time.  Shouldn’t wonder if something had happened.  I say, put me ashore, and I’ll cut up and see,” said the bicycle boy, who was of an inquiring turn.

“I’ll go with you,” said Frank; “it won’t take but a minute, and I’d like to discover what it is.  May be something we ought to know about.”

So the boys pulled round into a quiet nook, and the two elder ones scrambled up the rocks, to disappear in the crowd.  Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, and they did not return.  Jack grew impatient, so did Jill, and bade him run up and bring them back.  Glad to know what kept them, Jack departed, to be swallowed up in his turn, for not a sign of a boy did she see after that; and, having vainly strained her eyes to discover the attraction which held them, she gave it up, lay down on their jackets, and began to read.

Then the treacherous tide, as it ebbed lower and lower down the beach, began to lure the boat away; for it was not fastened, and when lightened of its load was an easy prize to the hungry sea, always ready to steal all it can.  Jill knew nothing of this, for her story was dull, the gentle motion proved soothing, and before she knew it she was asleep.  Little by little the runaway boat slid farther from the shore, and presently was floating out to sea with its drowsy freight, while the careless boys, unconscious of the time they were wasting, lingered to see group after group photographed by the enterprising man who had trundled his camera to the rocks.

In the midst of a dream about home, Jill was roused by a loud shout, and, starting up so suddenly that the sun-umbrella went overboard, she found herself sailing off alone, while the distracted lads roared and beckoned vainly from the cove.  The oars lay at their feet, where they left them; and the poor child was quite helpless, for she could not manage the sail, and even the parasol, with which she might have paddled a little, had gone down with all sail set.  For a minute, Jill was so frightened that she could only look about her with a scared face, and wonder if drowning was a very disagreeable thing.  Then the sight of the bicycle boy struggling with Jack, who seemed inclined to swim after her, and Frank shouting wildly, “Hold on!  Come back!” made her laugh in spite of her fear, it was so comical, and their distress so much greater than hers, since it was their own carelessness which caused the trouble.