try to save Pen, He will forgive
me; but I am not sure. Anyhow, I deserve to be drowned. I could never,
never face the others if Pen were to die because of me."

She was just able to scramble again out of the water on the White Bay
side. The tide was coming in with great rapidity. It was hopeless to
think of carrying Pen across.

"Let us go to the top part of the bay, as close to the rocks as
possible," said Pauline; "and don't let's be really frightened, for I am
sure the boat will be in time."

"Oh, I am certain of it!" said Harry. "Nellie never does lose her head.
She won't want us to drown, so she'll hurry up."

"Give me your hand, Pen," said Pauline. "You are a very brave little girl
to let the other little girl go first. I am glad you did it."

"Will God remember that about me by-and-by?" asked Pen.

"I hope so," replied Pauline, with a shiver.

She took Pen's icy hand and began to rub it.

"It isn't at all good for you to shiver like this," she said. "Here is a
bright piece of sunshine. Let us run up and down in the sunshine. It
doesn't seem, somehow, as though anybody could drown when the sun
shines."

"Maybe the boat will be in time," said Harry.

They ran up and down for some time, and then stood quiet. Pauline was
very silent. Beside the other two children she felt quite old and
grown-up. She had got Pen into this terrible scrape; it was her mission
to help them both. If they must all die, she at least would have to show
courage. She was not ready to die. She knew that fact quite well. But she
had naturally plenty of pluck, and fearful as her present surroundings
were, she would not have been afraid but for that ugly black thing which
rested on her conscience. Penelope looked full into her face. There was
something also pricking Penelope's conscience. The three children stood
close together on the little white patch of sand which had not yet been
covered by the waves. The wind was getting up, and the waves were
mounting higher; they rushed farther and farther up the bay, and curled
and swept and enjoyed themselves, and looked as though they were having a
race up the white sands. Pauline made a rapid calculation, and came to
the conclusion that they had about half-an-hour to live; for the bay was
a very shallow one, and when the wind was in its present quarter the tide
rose rapidly. She looked back at the rocks behind her, and saw that
high-water mark, even on ordinary occasions, was just above thei