eavy--as if it had dropped--perhaps an inch or two."

"I believe," said Jonathan gently, "you might almost call that being
frightened."

"Yes, perhaps you might. Tell me--were you?"

"I didn't like it--yes, I was anxious--and it made me tired to have been
such a fool--the whole thing was absolutely unnecessary, if we'd looked up
the charts carefully."

"Or asked a few questions. But you know you hate to ask questions."

"You could have asked them."

"Well, anyway, aren't you glad it happened?"

"Oh, of course; it was an experience."

"Do you want to do it again?"

"No"--he was emphatic--"not with that load."

"Neither do I."

If the winds sometimes wearied us a little, they helped us, too. We can
never forget the evening we turned into the Thames River, making for the
shelter of a friend's hospitable roof. We had battled most of that day
with the diagonal onslaughts of a southeast gale, bringing with it the
full swing of the ocean swell. It was easier than a southwester would have
been, but that was the best that could be said for it.

We passed the last buoy and turned our bow north. And suddenly, the great
waves that had all day kept us on the defensive became our strong helpers.
They took us up and swung us forward on our course with great sweeping
rushes of motion. The tide was setting in, too, and with that and our oars
we were going almost as fast as the waves themselves, so that when one
picked us up, it swung us a long way before it left us. We learned to
watch for each roller, wait till one came up astern, then pull with all
our might so that we went swooping down its long slope, its crest at first
just behind our stern, but drawing more and more under us, until it passed
beyond our bow and dropped us in the trough to wait for the next giant. It
was like going in a swing, but with the downward rush very long and swift,
and the upward rise short and slow. How long it took us to make the two
miles to our friend's dock we shall never know. Probably only a few
minutes. But it was not an experience in time. We had a sense of being at
one with the great primal forces of wind and water, and at one with them,
not in their moments of poise, but in their moments of resistless power.

* * * * *

After all, the only drawback to the cruise was that it was over too soon.
When, in the quiet afternoon light of the last day, a familiar headland
floated into view, my first feeling