JOHNNY BLOSSOM was at a loss. Here it was the best part of the vacation and not a bit of fun going on. It rained nearly every day—such disgustingly long showers that if they did ever hold up, it was too wet in the grass and everywhere to do anything. Besides the wind blew very hard, but that was rather pleasant, there was so much you could do when there was a good wind—fly kites, for instance.  
But though kites were great fun, there was something else Tellef and he had thought of. They had not done it yet, but they had often talked about it; and their plan was that some day, when there was a good brisk wind, they should take that enormous, old-fashioned umbrella Tellef’s grandmother had, and use it for a sail! It would work beautifully.
 
They were not allowed to sail with real sails, but with an umbrella—pooh! nobody could object to that, surely. He would hold the umbrella and Tellef would .
 
It was easy enough to get possession of the umbrella, and out at Sandy Point there was always a boat to be had just by turning over your hand, so to speak. Today there was exactly the right kind of a breeze. Possibly it was a little strong, but that would be only the more fun. So Johnny Blossom took to his heels and sped over the hill to Tellef.
 
The umbrella and the boat were soon and the boys started out. First they rowed in very proper fashion past the Tongue—a rather high point of land; but when they were well hidden by this point, they pulled in the and put up the umbrella in a flash.
 
Pshaw! What a beastly wind! He could scarcely hold the umbrella, and as for Tellef’s , it was downright stupid. Oh, oh! Was the boat going to upset? It was a lively time. The boat flew like an arrow, the waves were high, the wind—really he could not hold the umbrella much longer. My, oh, my! how far out they were now. The boat took in water every minute—whole buckets full. Johnny Blossom’s blouse was sopping wet.
 
Oh!
 
Away went the umbrella, right out of his hands, and only by a hair’s breadth did the boat escape capsizing. Tellef, as quick as lightning, had thrown his weight to the upper side of the careening boat or they would have gone straight into the water.
 
Over the sea sailed the umbrella—and there were Johnny and Tellef in the rocking boat far out from land.
 
“Ugh! boy!” said Tellef.
 
“Ugh! boy!” said Johnny.
 
“That wasn’t much to do,” said Tellef. What it was that wasn’t much to do, Tellef didn’t say. Johnny only stared out over the gray-blue splashing waves.
 
Only think! He might have been lying under those waves now!
 
And all at once the truth him: he ought not to have done this; he had known all the time that he ought not, and yet—he had done it.
 
It was only an excuse when he had told himself that it was all right to sail with an umbrella. He knew well that it wasn’t. Ugh! how disobedient he had been, he who was heir of Kingthorpe, too! Before, it didn’t matter so very much if he were disobedient; but everything was different now that he was the Kingthorpe heir. He must not be disobedient any more, for it was . How sorry, how sorry he was!
 
All this time they were striving as hard as they could to turn the boat toward shore. Johnny’s thoughts ran on:
 
It wasn’t because the wind blew so furiously or that the waves dashed so high or that the umbrella had floated away, that made him so sorry! No indeed. Pooh! Nor was it that they sat in the tossing boat far out among great white-capped waves. If he only had not been so disobedient.
 
Suppose he had been drowned. It would have been pleasant, wouldn’t it, for him, the heir of Kingthorpe, to meet Uncle Isaac at the heavenly gate, after being so disobedient?
 
“This was a crazy plan,” said Tellef. His cap had blown away, his hair was dripping round his ears, and he rowed with might and main.
 
“If we can only get behind the Tongue,” said Tellef.
 
“If we can only get behind the Tongue,” repeated Johnny. They rowed for a while, their red faces showing the effort they made, while the wind blew more fiercely than ever.
 
“We can’t round the point,” said Tellef.
 
“Yes, we can,” said Johnny Blossom, his feet more firmly against the bottom of the boat.
 
“Shall we shout for help?” asked Tellef.
 
“Oh, that would only frighten them if they heard us,” answered Johnny Blossom.
 
The great waves were now driving the boat in towards the shore, but unfortunately to the outer, dangerous side of the Tongue.
 
“Shall we say our prayers?” asked Tellef.
 
“Not yet,” answered John.
 
—“for we are surely going to drown,” continued Tellef.
 
The wind was roaring so that they cou............