e limit?"

"It sure was," agreed Jack. "At one time I thought we were goners,
and----"

"Goo-oof-g-r-r-r-r-r!" An extraordinary sound, which can only be
typographically rendered in this manner, suddenly interrupted him.

"Heavens, what's that?" gasped Billy, looking about him in a rather
alarmed manner.

"Ugh-ugh-groof-f-f-f-f-f-f!"

"It's Noddy!" cried Jack.

"Gracious, he must be dying," gasped Billy.

In his eagerness to escape the full fury of the storm and the flying
wreckage of the barn, Noddy had plunged into the hay with his mouth
open, and now his throat was full of the dry stuff. He was almost
choked.

"Pull him out," directed Jack, and he and Billy laid hold of Noddy's
heels and dragged him out of the hay-pile. The lad was almost black in
the face.

"Ug-gug-groo-o-o-o-o-o!" he mumbled, making frantic gestures with his
arms.

"Goodness, this is as bad as the time he was almost drowned," cried
Jack. "Clap him on the back good and hard. That's it."

There were several gulps and struggles, and then Noddy began to cough.
But all danger from strangulation had passed, thanks to the heroic
efforts of Jack and Billy.

"Phew! I thought I was choked," sputtered Noddy, as soon as he found his
voice. "I'd hate to be a horse and have to eat that stuff."

"You are a kind of a horse," said Billy slyly.

"How do you make that out?" demanded Noddy, falling into the trap.

"A donkey," laughed Billy teasingly, but poor Noddy felt too badly after
his experience in the hay to retaliate in kind.

After the restoration of Noddy, they began to survey the situation. All
were soaked through, and the rain beat about them unmercifully. But they
were thankful to have escaped with their lives. Through the white
curtain of rain they could make out the outlines of the _Curlew_, riding
at the dock.

"I'm glad to see that," observed Jack. "I was half afraid that she might
have broken away."

"Then we _would_ have been in a fine fix," said Billy.

"What will we do next?" asked Noddy, removing some fragments of hay from
his ears.

"Wait till the clouds roll by," laughed Billy. "I guess that's about the
program, isn't it, Jack?"

"Seems to be about all that there is to do," replied Jack; "but it seems
to me that the storm is beginning to let up even now. Look in the
northwest--it's beginning to get lighter."

"So it is," agreed Billy. "Let's get under that clump of trees yonder
till it blows over altogether."

"Sa