SWEEPER JOE INFORMS
Alarmed for Jack, Penny scrambled over a seat to his side. He had been struck a hard blow by the swinging boom and there was a tiny jagged cut just behind his ear. A glance satisfied the girl that he was not seriously injured and that she could do nothing for him at the moment.
Turning her attention to the sail which was showing an inclination to slam over again, she quickly pulled it in and lowered it to the deck.
By then Jack had opened his eyes. His bewildered gaze rested upon her, and he rubbed his head.
"You--" he mumbled, raising on an elbow.
Penny firmly pushed him back. "Lie still!" she commanded.
Seizing the paddle, she tried to shove the boat backwards off the mud bank. Her best efforts would not move it an inch.
Slowly Jack raised himself to a sitting position. He rubbed his head. Bewilderment changed to a look of comprehension.
"I'm okay now," he said huskily. "We're hard aground, aren't we?"
"Solid as a rock," agreed Penny, wiping perspiration from her forehead. "Any ideas?"
"I'll get out and push."
"You're not strong enough. You took a nasty blow on the head."
Had not Jack looked so thoroughly miserable, Penny might have been tempted to adopt an "I told you so" attitude. There had been no excuse for running aground. Sally Barker had warned them about the shoal, and Jack deliberately had disregarded her advice.
"I guess it was my fault," Jack mumbled, the words coming with difficulty. "The water was deep enough here yesterday. I was so sure--"
His eyes, like those of an abused puppy, appealed to her for sympathy. Suddenly, Penny's resentment vanished and she felt sorry for Jack.
"Never mind," she said kindly. "We'll get off somehow. If necessary, I can swim to Shadow Island for help."
"It won't be necessary." Jack pulled off shoes and socks, and rolled up his slacks above his knees. "I got us into this, and I'll get us out. Just sit tight."
Despite Penny's protests, he swung over the side, into the shallow water. Applying his shoulder to the Spindrift's bow, he pushed with all his strength. Penny dug into the mud with the paddle.
The boat groaned and clung fast to the shoal. Then inch by inch it began to move backwards.
"We're off!" Penny cried jubilantly.
Jack pushed until the Spindrift was safely away from the shoal. Wet and plastered with mud, he scrambled aboard.
"No use putting up the sail," he said gloomily. "The centerboard is damaged. When we went aground I should have pulled it up, but things happened so fast I didn't think of it."
"Can't it be repaired?"
"Oh, sure, but it means hauling the boat out of water for several days. And the race will be held in a week. I'll have no chance to practice."
"It's a bad break," Penny said sympathetically. "Perhaps the centerboard isn't much damaged."
They paddled to the Shadow Island dock. There with the help of the Gandiss chauffeur, Jack tied ropes under the bottom of the Spindrift and by means of a hoist and crane, lifted the boat a few feet out of water. A piece had been broken from the centerboard and the bottom was so badly scratched that it would have to be repainted before the race.
"I call this wretched luck!" Jack fumed. "It will take days to repair and repaint the Spindrift."
The accident had a subduing effect upon the boy, and the remainder of the day he tried to make amends to Penny. They swam together and played three sets of tennis. In each contest Penny won with ease.
"You're about the first girl who ever beat me at anything," Jack said ruefully. "Guess that rap on the head did me no good."
"How about the sailboat race?" Penny tripped him. "Didn't Sally win the lantern trophy?"
Grudgingly, Jack admitted that she had. "But the race was a fluke," he added. "The wind was tricky and favored Sally's old tub. It won't happen twice."
Annoyed by the youth's alibis, Penny turned and walked away.
