es the trouble."

"Then perhaps we had better withhold from those on deck the fact that
there may be an indefinite delay, merely making the general statement
that the trouble is being rectified as rapidly as possible."

"Very well; will you tell them, and make my excuses? I shall want to
stay pretty close here till this trouble is found."

"I'll tell them," said the doctor, and motioning Jim to follow went
on deck. So the news which, poorly told, might have brought
consternation to Dorothy and her aunt, merely aroused their
curiosity. Soon they were laughing and talking with all thoughts of
the accident gone from their minds.

Meanwhile, below, Mr. Ronald, Sharley and the assistant engineer,
were going over every inch of the gasoline motors, hoping to find
what had been the cause of their sudden refusal to do their work.

Screws were tightened and several other minor matters remedied. Then
Sharley signaled the pilot house that he was going to try her again.
Having tested his batteries with the buzzer, and adjusted the timer,
he turned on the gasoline and slowly opened the throttle.

There was no response.

Sharley repeated the operation several times without getting the
desired explosion. Then he retested the batteries with the buzzer and
adjusted the carburetor, discovering that the gasoline had not been
turned on at that point--or, at least, had been turned off after the
trouble started. More cranking followed, but without success.

The _Nautilus_ was now drifting in toward the shore, and a peep
through a porthole told Sharley that he would be upon the sands of
Rockaway if something were not done soon.

"Told you she ought to have a sail equipment for emergencies," he
said to Mr. Ronald.

"Yes; you told me--that's not your fault. The question now is, what
are we going to do?"

"Nothing that I can see but throw out our anchor. Ain't more than
twenty feet of water here, and she's growing less all the time."

"But I can't throw out the anchor without alarming the ladies."

"Have to alarm 'em, then, I guess. That's better than going aground
and paying somebody salvage to get you off, eh, Mr. Ronald?" and the
engineer laughed.

Mr. Ronald admitted the force of the statement, then went on deck to
break the news to his guests.

CHAPTER XIV

THE STORM

Mr. Ronald's appearance on deck was the signal for a jubilant shout
from Dorothy, Molly and Jim.

"Now we'll be off again in a jiffy!" Molly cri