shady transaction, and though both may have been aboard
with Jack, during the mutiny, they successfully covered their tracks.

Brisco and Lacomb sulked below, and, for the time being, no effort was
made to bring them up and set them to work, though every hand was
needed. Some of the members of the film company turned in and helped. It
was thought better not to incite a fight.

So the _Mary Ellen_ lurched on through the storm, a mere semblance of
the gallant craft she had appeared to be on leaving port. And those
aboard labored desperately to keep her afloat.

"Talk about a shipwreck!" gasped Mr. Pertell, as a wave drenched him,
"this is the most realistic I ever saw. If I could only picture this!"

But it was impossible. How the planned drama of the sea would end, no
one could tell.

"And oh! to think of poor Russ and Mr. Sneed out in this--if they _are_
still out in it," murmured Alice, as she and Ruth clung to one another
in their cabin.

"The _Ajax_ may have survived," Ruth said, hopefully.

And indeed, at that moment, the motorboat was making the best of the bad
weather.

The sea anchor which Russ had rigged provided the necessary drag and
steerage way, and the boat's head was kept to the waves. Her high bow,
and covered fore-part, enabled her to ride seas that would have swamped
another craft of like size. And her dory-build added to her safety. The
bank fishermen know well how to shape a boat to meet heavy seas.

"Well, we seem to be doing fairly well," said Russ, as he and his
companion settled down in the shelter, to nibble at a bit of hard tack
and drink some of the water Jack had put on board.

"Yes, I suppose it might be worse," agreed Mr. Sneed. And that, for him,
was saying a great deal.

So the _Ajax_ drifted on, as the _Mary Ellen_ was driving, before the
gale, the occupants of neither craft knowing aught of the others. And
the storm still raged.

After a while Russ, for want of something better to do, began looking
over the motor. Presently he discovered something that made him shout
for joy.

"What is it?" asked his companion. "Do you see the schooner?"

"No, but I can make this boat run. Look, the propeller hasn't dropped
off at all! The set screws of the sleeve have become loose and the
propeller shaft didn't turn, that was all."

If any of you know anything about motor-boats, you know that the shaft
which passes through the stuffing box, and to which shaft the propeller
is fastened