med to be
frozen, and he knelt, with starting eyes, crouched together, and gazing
up at the falling water. Stunned by the roar, too helpless to lend the
slightest aid to the rowers, he felt that in another moment they would
be right beneath, when the boat suddenly careened over, struck by the
sharp puff of wind which seemed to come tearing down the ravine from
which the torrent issued, and in a few moments they were fifty feet
away, and running rapidly toward the mouth of the bay.

The first thing Max Blande realised was that he had been knocked over
into the bottom of the boat by Kenneth, who had sprung to the rudder,
and the next that he had been trampled on by Scood, who had seized the
sheet, and held on to trim the sail.

Max got up slowly, and shivered as he glanced at the great fall and then
at his companions, who, now that the danger was past, made light of it,
and burst into a hearty laugh at his expense.

"Are we out of danger?" he faltered.

"Out of danger! Yes, of course; wasn't any," replied Kenneth. "Had the
boat full; that's all. You said you could swim, didn't you?"

Max shook his head.

"Ah, well, it don't matter now! Scood and I can soon teach you that."

"If she couldn't swim she'd ha' been trowned," said Scood oracularly,
"for we should have had enough to do to get ashore."

"Hold your tongue, Scood; and will you leave off calling people she?"

"Where would the boat have come up?" continued Scood.

"Bother! never mind that. There's plenty of wind now, and we'll soon
race home."

"But we were in great danger, weren't we?"

"N-n-no," said Kenneth cavalierly. "It would have been awkward if the
boat had filled, but it didn't fill. If you come to that, we're in
danger now."

"Danger now!" cried Max, clutching the side again.

"Yes, of course. If the boat was to sink, I daresay it's two hundred
feet deep here."

"Oh!"

"But that's nothing. We'll take you up Loch Doy. It's seven hundred
and fifty feet up there, and the water looks quite black. Ha, ha, ha!"
laughed Kenneth; "and the thought of it makes you look quite white."

"It seems so horrible."

"Not a bit. Why should it?" cried Kenneth. "It's just as dangerous to
sail in seven feet of water as in seven hundred."

"Mind tat rock," said Scoodrach.

"Well, I am minding it," said Kenneth carelessly, as, with the wind
coming now in a good steady breeze, consequent upon their being out of
the shelter of the point, he st