nded Tom. "Here you are, as peaceful
as clams, while we have been scouring the coast for you."

"Don't scold, Tom," laughed Madge, "and don't refer to us as clams. We
are stuck in the mud. Our wretched little tug brought us too near the
shore, piled us up here and then went away two hours ago for help. We
were so afraid you would go on without us. What can we do?"

While the girls talked Tom, Jack and David had been quietly at work.
They had secured the houseboat to the launch by means of their towing
ropes. Tom put on all speed. His motor launch tugged and strained
forward. The "Merry Maid" did not move. She was a fairly heavy craft,
with her large cabin and broad beam. Miss Betsey Taylor and Miss Jenny
Ann joined the crowd of anxious watchers on the houseboat deck. Instead
of gliding up a peaceful river, gazing at fruitful orchards and lovely
old Virginia homesteads through the oncoming twilight, the houseboat
crew would have to remain ignominiously on a sand bank until a larger
boat came along to pull her off.

Tom tried again. Once more the "Sea Gull" went bravely forward--the
length of her towing rope.

The girls were almost in tears. Suddenly Madge laughed. Eleanor and
Lillian looked at her reproachfully.

"I don't see anything to laugh at," expostulated Eleanor.

"I don't either, Nellie," agreed Madge. "We ought to cry, we are such
geese. Tom! David!" she cried. "You have never pulled up our anchor. Of
course we can't get off the sand bank. We forgot to tell you that the
captain on the little tug anchored us here to keep us from drifting
away. I am so sorry."

In a little while Tom Curtis's motor launch, followed by the "Merry
Maid," entered the Rappahannock from the Chesapeake Bay. It was Tom's
intention to tow the houseboat along several of the Virginia rivers
during their vacation. It looked as though they might have a peaceful
excursion with nothing to mar its serenity. But there were five boys and
four girls aboard the boats, besides the two older women.

The voyagers did not journey far the first day. It was about sundown
when they came along shore near a wonderful peach orchard and it was
here that they decided to spend the night. The crew of the "Merry Maid"
entertained the crew of the "Sea Gull" at dinner, the young folks
spending the evening together. As Tom was about to bid Madge good night
she said almost timidly, "Thank you so much, Tom, for being so good to
David. I hope he hasn't disappoin