ly in the
morning."

"How dreadful! Won't anybody come to fetch us off?"

"I don't see how they could reach us. Look at the sea! It's rushing
between the rocks like a mill-race. Any ordinary boat would be dashed to
pieces, and there's no lifeboat at Moorcliffe."

Muriel shuddered. The water had indeed overflowed the whole of the
sandbank, and now swirled in a foaming current round the foot of their
retreat, rising every moment a little nearer to them. Following the tide
had come a dense sea fog, that drifted down the bay, veiling the sun,
and, creeping round the rock, wrapped the girls in its clammy,
concealing folds, cutting them off effectually from all possibility of
being seen from the neighbouring cliff. In a few minutes the whole
prospect was blotted out; they seemed in a world of white mist, as
absolutely isolated and alone as if they were in mid-ocean. Trembling
with fear, Muriel turned to Patty.

"Do you think anybody knows where we are?" she asked.

"I can't say. Vera and the others would, of course, tell Miss Lincoln,
but she wouldn't know exactly where to look, and no one could find us in
this fog."

"Do you think the sea'll rise any higher?"

"Yes, a little. It can hardly be full tide yet."

"Patty! I don't know whether I shall be able to swim with my hurt foot.
Suppose the water comes right over the rock, you won't leave me like the
others did, will you?"

"Never!" said Patty, putting her arm round her cousin. "We'll either
both get safely to land, or both go down together."

"Will you promise?"

"Faithfully."

"Thank you. I know you always keep your promises," said Muriel.

She did not speak again for a long time, but sat holding Patty's hand
tightly, and gazing under a horrible fascination at the green,
foam-flecked water that was creeping so stealthily nearer to them. How
cold it looked, and how cruel! How easily it could swirl away their
light weights, and dash them against those jagged points opposite, or
sweep them out into the midst of those long waves, the white crests of
which were just dimly visible through the wall of fog! Inch by inch it
rose; it was only a foot now from the top of the rock, far above the
line which they had supposed was high-water mark.

"I think we had better both take off our tennis shoes," said Patty. "If
we're obliged to swim, you could perhaps manage to float, and I could
pull you along."

"Patty, aren't you terribly afraid?"

"No, not very. Not so m