s only nine o'clock," said auntie,
consulting her watch.

"Don't get mixed up in the time as you did last summer, when you went
blackberrying and came home at ten o'clock in the morning and thought it
was six at night. Hard-a-lee!" as the boom swung around and they changed
their course. Hilda, not realizing what this meant, did not duck her
head in time, and consequently got a smart rap. Her hat was knocked off,
but, being Hilda's, it did not go in the water. She never had any
accidents.

"You must duck, instanter, when you hear me call," said Will. "Sometimes
the boom has to go around very suddenly, and you have to look out for
yourselves. Archie, you steer now for a while," and Archie took the
helm.

The little sailboat skimmed along over the glittering water, and now
they were well past Clark's Island. As they came near the Gurnet lights
they decided that they would touch there first, and show Hilda the
lighthouse, and then they could take as much time as they liked for
their cruise outside.

The tide was out, and they could not get the little boat up near enough
the shore to land dry-shod. So Will and Archie, having anchored the
boat, pulled off shoes and stockings, rolled up their trousers, and
jumped overboard.

"What are they going to do?" asked Hilda, watching with much interest
these preparations, which the rest seemed to take as a matter of course.

"They will carry us ashore, because we don't want to get our feet wet,"
said Edna. "They often do."

"_Carry_ us! why, I'd be scared to death!" exclaimed Hilda. "Are you
really going to let them take you, Mrs. Somers?"

"Yes, indeed, and they know just how to manage," said Mrs. Somers. "I'll
go now, children, so they can take the heaviest weight first."

Will and Archie, knee deep in water, stood up by the boat, and Will
easily lifted his mother from the side of the boat, where she was
standing. Then Archie got hold of her also, in some mysterious way, and,
in a moment, she was safely sitting on a "lady's chair," made by the
boys' clasped hands. They went carefully up over the rocks and stones,
and deposited her, dry-shod. Then they came back for the girls.

"I can take these kids better alone, Arch," said Will, taking Eunice
like a baby.

"I'll take Cricket," said Archie.

"No, you won't, sir, not one step," said that young lady, sitting down,
resolutely. "I know you. I'd find myself in a crab hole in about a
minute. I'll wait for Will."

"Come o