hat betokened a coming storm.

But it was not so much the fact of the stalled engine, nor that they
were being carried out to sea, and were in some danger, that worried
the boys.

"We're falling down on what we said we'd do," declared Jack. "We
promised the girls that we'd save Denny from those fellows, and we
can't do it. They may be at him now."

"We certainly saw a light at his cabin," ventured Ed.

"But we can't see it now," added Jack, straining his eyes for a
glimpse of the spot where the fisherman's shack stood.

"Well, there's no use worrying over what can't be helped," observed
Walter, philosophically. "We're here and not there. Denny will have to
look out for himself--I guess he's able."

"That isn't the point," rejoined Jack. "There we took the case out of
the girls' hands, so to speak. We said we were the big noise, and that
we'd look after things. Then we go and get stuck miles from shore
where we can't do a thing. They'll laugh at us when we do get back, if
they don't do any worse."

"But we didn't know we were going to get stuck when we came out for a
little run, after we found Denny wasn't home," said Dray.

"That's no excuse," returned Jack. "It's like a child breaking the
looking glass and then saying he didn't mean to. Well, I know one
thing Cora will say when we get back--if we ever do--and own up that
we weren't on hand when the play came off."

"What will she say?" asked Dray. He was not well acquainted with the
doings and sayings of the motor girls, as yet.

"She'll say that she and Bess and Belle and the rest of them could
have done better themselves, if we'd left it to them. And I guess
she'd be more than half right," sighed Jack.

"Well, there's no use crying over a bridge before you come to it,"
observed Dray. "Let's have another go at that engine."

They began their labors all over again. They even took out the spark
plugs, though they had been new that afternoon.

Nothing could be found wrong there. The feed pipe from the gasoline
tank was examined, but it seemed to provide a good flow. The timer was
adjusted and readjusted. The coil was looked to. Everything, in short,
that the boys could think of, or that previous trouble had taught them
to look for, was tried, and all with no effect.

They even did more absurd things, such as the talcum powder act, while
Jack spouted some Latin verses at the forward cylinder. But the motor
refused to mote.

"And, all the while, we're go