"by the time we get over there, mr. andrews, the tide will be down. are you ready?" called joe, rapping on the tent occupied by that gentleman and mr. lane.
"yes; we will come directly. you need not wait."
"all right, sir.--come on, boys. they'll come after. who wants to race?"
"i do," cried walter martin. "race open for all! no handicapping either. one, two, three! luck to the fellow that happens to start ahead!"
away went two score boys over the pasture, like a herd of wild deer, clearing the hillocks and patches of hemlock at a bound.
dave got the lead, and, with joe close at his heels, he reached the woods; and there discovering that they had the race to themselves, and the other boys calling "time! time!" at the top of their voices, they both cried "quits," and dropped together by a blueberry patch, where, as soon as they recovered breath, they began to pick and eat. they waited there until their companions came up; and then, tired of racing, the party sauntered lazily along, picking berries by the way.
"no john or jerry here yet?" said maurice perry, as they came near the rendezvous.
"we can find the place easy enough though," said ned gould. "it was near that rock with a peaked top, john said."
the whole troop of boys leaped down from rock to rock along the boulder-strown shore, until they reached the rock spoken of as a landmark.
"i don't believe the tide is low enough," said joe, peering into one pool after another. "hullo! there are john and jerry.--hullo there! come, find your 'puddle.' we can't."
"good reason why. it's covered up with water. the tide isn't low enough. there it is, right there; but you've got to wait till the tide is down, and the water in the 'puddle' settles."
after a while, a standing-place on the outer edge of the pool was free from water, and as many of the boys as possible crowded upon it.
"you'd better get off that. a big wave will come and give you a duckin'," said john laughing.
the boys were hesitating whether to heed the advice, when a shout went up from the crowd higher up on the rocks.
"jump! quick! you'll be ducked!"
the shout gave the warning to some in time, and, leaping across the pool, they clambered up to a safe place; but others, stopping to look around and see what was the matter, were drenched by a huge incoming wave, that fairly took them from their feet and hurled them into john's "puddle," among the "live things" he had told them of.
there was a great shrieking, and sputtering, and splashing, as the boys emerged from their bath, wiser, if not sadder, for the experience.
when the teachers arrived, they found some half-dozen boys dressed in an exceedingly primitive style, while they wrung their clothes, and hung them to dry on the boulders.
"i told 'em not to go there," said john. "you can't hurry the tide out; it takes its own time, no matter how many folks is waitin'."
"'time and tide wait for no man,'" suggested maurice.
"well, the rest of us will take warning, and keep where it is safe," said mr. andrews, striving to peer into the troubled waters of the pool.
after a few more waves had swept over, making the crowd run back in a lively way from the edge, john announced oracularly,--
"there, that's about the last. there won't be any more come over that strip of ledge on the other side; but you can't see nothin' till it gets settled."
he was right in his prophecy: no more rude waves chased them from their position, and gradually the water of the pool grew clearer and clearer, until some of its wonders could be plainly seen.
"i see an anemone!" cried mr. andrews.
"yes, dozens of them. how beautiful--purple and yellow in every shade!" added mr. lane.
"what! those filmy-looking things against the sides?" asked joe, lying flat on the rocks to see better.
"yes; those are sea-anemones."
"see 'em shut up when i poke 'em," cried john, coming with a stick to show them off.
"no, no, john; not yet," cried mr. andrews, motioning him away. "we want to see them open. see them wave their tentacles in search of food! ah, one fellow has a periwinkle eating!"
"you don't mean to say that soft-looking thing can eat that winkle!" exclaimed dave.
"yes, indeed, and very much larger things than that.--let me take the stick, john."
then touching one of the anemones with it in the gentlest way, he caused it to draw in its tentacles and shut up like a puckered bag, all beauty gone.
"oh, leave the rest open!" cried the boys.
mr. lane stooped down, and, working carefully and perseveringly, detached one from the side of the rock, and offered it to joe. but it was not an inviting-looking object out of its element; and joe, shrinking back, said, "thanks,--no jelly for me."
"now look at the sea-urchins and star-fish," said mr. andrews, picking up a specimen of each. "see these spines, how stiff and unyielding they look."
"only put him down bottom upward," interposed jerry, setting one down that he held in his hand.
the boys crowded around and watched the curious creature as he slanted his spines until he brought them into position where he could move himself on them, and gradually bring himself right side up again.
the boys experimented with them and with the star-fish for a long time, and tried to spread the latter out to dry on the rocks; but by the time they had smoothed out the last ray the first would be curling up, conscious that it was in an unfriendly place.
"we will take some over to camp and pin them on a board," said mr. lane, collecting specimens of various sizes from that of a penny to that of a hat-crown.
"pin them down? you wouldn't stick pins into them, mr. lane!" said joe, horrified.
"in the cause of science. besides, they have no brains, and consequently no feelings to hurt."
"they may not have brains; but if they have no feeling, why do they twist up when you bother them?"
"i've seen 'em growing a new finger when one's been pulled off," piped jerry.
"yes; they can readily supply any such loss."
"wasn't i right in saying it was a pretty puddle?" asked john proudly.
"yes, indeed; but it deserves a better name. let's call it anemone pool."
"that's it. that sounds first-rate," answered the boys. "anemone pool it is."
the wet clothes were still damp, but the owners dressed themselves, and were proceeding to hurry away, when john said, "hold on! i forgot to tell you something." the boys stood still and looked back, waiting for the speaker to come to them.
"those men from the wreck said they spoke a fishing-smack just off yonder the night before the storm, and they had aboard two of the scaredest fellows you ever see."
the boys were all attention now, and crowded around john.
"the captain of the smack said the boys had been sea-sick ever since they shipped, and as soon as the fog came on they had been so frightened he didn't know what to do with 'em."
"well, what did he do?" demanded joe impatiently.
"he wanted captain melrose to take them off his hands; he thought there was goin' to be a storm, and he really hadn't room for 'em. he said they just stayed around and moped."
"poor fellows!" said joe soberly.
"captain melrose couldn't take 'em; he was bound out. the other cap'n said somethin' about the two belongin' on an island with a campin'-party; and afterwards when he came ashore here and see all you fellows he concluded this was the island."
the boys exchanged glances with mr. lane and mr. andrews, but not a word was spoken for several minutes; then mr. andrews said, "boys, go on to camp, and mr. lane and i will go back to the lighthouse and interview these men to see if we can get any further information."
the boys went slowly away, feeling very sober over john's news, and the two teachers hastened in the opposite direction.
"what do you suppose has become of them?" asked dave, in a low tone, of his friend joe.
"i wish i knew; and yet i don't either. that awful storm came after captain melrose spoke the smack. oh, i wish they would come sailing by now!"
"what would you do?"
"i would fly over to mr. bernard and beg him to let them land. i think they've been punished enough, and i think he thinks so too, and would forgive them."
"who wants to go out in the boat?" shouted ned gould, looking back towards joe and dave, who owned part of the little craft.
"i," said joe; "but it's too rough yet from the storm. look at the white-caps."
"who cares for white-caps? it's all the more fun when the boat dances."
"well, fun or no fun, you won't get mr. bernard's permission to go before to-morrow, and very likely not then."
"oh, bother! mr. bernard is always tying us up so. we can't go here, we can't go there," said ned angrily.
"that's so. i should think we were old enough to do as we choose. my father doesn't want me to be made a miss nancy; he wants me to rough it," growled walter martin.
"i've managed a boat ever since i was out of petticoats," continued ned, "and father knows it; but i suppose mr. bernard would be horrified if i should ask leave to borrow the light-keeper's boat for a sail."
"i don't think mr. bernard is a bit too strict," said joe boldly. "just remember that he has the care of a big crowd, and feels responsible for our safety. i believe most of our folks would say he couldn't be too careful in such a place as this."
"oh, of course you would stand up for him!" sneered walter, "you and he are such friends."
joe laughed good-naturedly.
"well, if we can't use our boat we might as well set her adrift. what's the use of having a boat?" growled walter.
"bite off your nose to spite your face!" whispered dave.
"i'll tell you what we'll do. i'll get mr. bernard to let us go off to the other end of the island down by the place john told us about, and we'll bring our lunch and have a high time!" exclaimed joe.
"can't go without a teacher along to look after us, just as if we were infants out with their nurse," grumbled walter.
"i will ask mr. bernard to give us liberty for once, and trust us to take care of ourselves," laughed joe, determined to restore walter to good-nature.
"he won't do it."
"i'll ask, anyhow. i believe he will."
"there's the supper-bell!" shouted dave, dashing away toward camp.
the rest of the crowd quickened their steps to a run, and were soon gathered around the table, having returned from their long walk with keen appetites.
joe gave mr. bernard the story told by captain melrose and repeated to them by john kramer; and added that the two teachers had gone on to the lighthouse, hoping to hear something that would give them a clue to the whereabouts of the fishing-smack.
