And they had good cause for worry. Three small boys, who knew little if anything of managing a motor boat, were adrift in one on the big ocean. The only wonder is that they were as brave as they were.
"I wonder what mom thinks?" said Bob, as he slid back the bolt of the cabin door.
"She couldn't help worrying—I know mine would," spoke Sammy. "But I think we'll be rescued to-day. Silas is most likely out looking for us with some of his sailor friends."
"Well, I hope he finds us soon," remarked Frank. "It's all right in books, to read about being adrift at sea, but it isn't so much fun when it comes to you. I'd rather be in Lighthouse Cove."
"So would I!" cried his two chums.
The three Fairview boys went out on the open deck of the Skip, and, as they emerged from the cabin a cry of surprise came from all of them. For the motor boat's stern was bumping and rubbing up against the side of a small two-master schooner, which, with some sails set, was drifting about on the ocean, abandoned, and seemingly as much at the mercy of the wind and waves as was the Skip herself.
"Would you look at that!" cried Sammy.
"A ship!" gasped Bob.
"And that's your whale!" went on Frank. "Say, how did this happen?"
None of the boys could answer. They looked off across a waste of waters. Not another craft was in sight, and they could not see land. The sun came up, seemingly out of the ocean itself, with the promise of a fair, hot day. And those two vessels—the motor boat and the schooner had, somehow, drifted together.
That was the noise which had awakened Sammy—the gentle collision of the craft in the ocean. Had this happened when
