om the shore that promised shelter.

"What ails George, do ye know?" questioned Jimmy, who could not
understand why the other did not make with all speed ahead, as he had
been known to do on a former occasion, considering that the best course.

"That sudden stop on the part of his engine gave him a bad feeling,"
was Jack's reply. "He doesn't trust it as he did, and is afraid that
it may repeat when he is in the midst of the storm. So he's going to
stick by us, through thick and thin."

"It does his head credit, I'm thinkin'," declared Jimmy; and then, as
he stared hard into that inky space ahead, that was gradually creeping
up toward them, he continued: "Sure now, do ye think we can make it,
Jack darlint?"

"Well, we've just got to, that's all," the other replied, firmly. "If
the wind doesn't blow us right out of the water, we'll keep on bucking
directly into it. The fight will be a tough one, Jimmy; but make up
your mind we _must_ win out. Half the battle is in confidence--that
and eternal watchfulness."

It was in this manner that Jack Stormways always impressed his chums
with some of the zeal by which his own actions were governed. That
"never-give-up" spirit had indeed carried him through lots of hotly
contested battles on the gridiron or the diamond, wresting victory many
times from apparent defeat.

So they continued to push steadily on. Jack counted every minute a
gain. He kept a close watch upon the surface of the sound, knowing
that here they must first of all discover the swoop of the gale, as its
skirmishing breath struck the water.

The last movement of air seemed to have died out, yet this was the calm
that often precedes the coming of the storm, the deadly lull that makes
the tempest seem all the more terrible when it breaks.

Jack calculated that they had been some five miles from the western
shore at the time they changed their southern course, and headed to
starboard. And as _Comfort_ could do no better than ten miles an hour,
under the most favorable conditions, it stood to reason that about half
an hour would be needed to place them in a position of safety.

"We won't get it, that's flat," he was saying to himself, as he noted
the way in which the clouds gathered for the rush.

Picking up the little megaphone which he carried, he shouted a few
sentences to the others. While the air around them remained so calm,
the thunder was booming in the quarter where that black cloud hung
su