d stiff. Move around--get warmed up. We're safe now, Andy! Safe!"

"Yes, I know, but I'm so tired--I--I want a rest."

"There'll be time enough to rest when we get to some shelter. It's
raining cats and dogs, and we can't get much wetter. Let's see if we
can make out where we are, and maybe we can get back to camp, and find
some grub. I'm starved."

"So am I. What time is it?"

"My watch has stopped," answered Frank, looking at the timepiece by a
lightning flash. "The water did it."

"Mine's not going either. Well, let's see if we can find our camp.
Some grub wouldn't be bad. Only we've got to look out for that man."

"Which side shall we go down?" asked Frank, as they paused on the
summit of the cliff.

"It's hard to decide," answered Andy. "Let's try this," and he
motioned to the left.

Down they went, slipping and stumbling, pausing now and then to get
their breaths, and again to speak of the terrible fate they had escaped.

"Don't mention it any more," begged Andy with a shudder. "I can't bear
to think of that tide rising--rising all the while, and no way of
getting out!"

"Lightning probably struck a place on where the earth was thinner than
anywhere else made a hole, and the rain did the rest," was Frank's
theory.

Drenched to the skin, covered with mud from the climb up the slope,
tired and weary, the Racer boys stumbled on in the darkness. Sometimes
they fell over huge boulders or were tripped on outcropping tree roots.
But they did not halt until they were on the sandy beach, where the big
waves were pounding. There, at least, the going was easier.

"Now, which way?" asked Andy, as they halted to rest.

"It's hard to say. Camp might lie in either direction, and it's too
dark to see. I guess it doesn't make much difference. We'll come up
to it by morning, anyhow, if we can keep going that long. Let's head
off this way."

Frank started to circle the island shore to the right, and Andy
followed. At times the rain would cease, and then it would begin its
downpour again. The lightning was less frequent, but they did not need
the flashes to guide them now.

That night seemed almost a year long, they said afterward. Sometimes
they fell from very weariness, only to get up again and struggle on.
Frank placed his arm about his brother and half carried him at times.

They covered many miles. As yet they had seen no indication of their
"camp," as they called the place on the beach