"I'm sure sorry, sir. I promised my father I would meet you sharp at four. Fact is, I was out on the river with some friends, and didn't realize how late it was. We were practicing for the trophy sailboat race."
Penny's blue eyes sparkled with interest. An excellent swimmer, she too enjoyed sailing and all water sports. However, she had never competed in a race.
"Suppose we get along to the island," Mr. Parker interposed, glancing at the sky. "I don't like the look of those clouds."
"Oh, it won't rain for hours," Jack said carelessly. "Those clouds are moving slowly and we'll reach the island within ten minutes."
Helping Penny and Mr. Parker into the motorboat, he stowed the luggage under the seat and then cast off. In a sweeping circle, the craft sped past a canbuoy which marked a shoal, and out into the swift current.
Penny held tightly to her straw hat to keep it from being blown downstream. A stiff breeze churned the waves which spanked hard against the bow of the boat.
"My father was sorry he couldn't meet you himself!" Jack hurled at them above the whistle of the wind. "He was held up at the airplane factory--labor trouble or something of the sort."
Mr. Parker nodded, his good humor entirely restored. Settling comfortably in the leather seat, he focused his gaze on distant Shadow Island.
"Good fishing around here?" he inquired.
"The best ever. You'll like it, sir."
Jack was nearly seventeen, with light hair and steel blue eyes. His white trousers were none too well pressed and the sleeves of an old sweater bore smears of grease. Steering the boat with finger-tip control, he deliberately cut through the highest of the waves, treating his passengers to a series of jolts.
Some distance away, a ferryboat, the River Queen, glided smoothly along, its railings thronged with people. In the pilot house, a girl who might have been sixteen, stood at the wheel.
"Look, Dad!" Penny exclaimed. "A girl is handling that big boat!"
"Sally Barker," Jack informed disparagingly. "She's the daughter of Captain Barker who owns the River Queen. A brat if ever there was one!"
"She certainly has that ferryboat eating out of her hand," Mr. Parker commented admiringly.
"Oh, she handles a boat well enough. Why shouldn't she? The captain started teaching her about the river when she was only three years old. He taught her all she knows about sailboat racing, too."
Jack's tone of voice left no doubt that he considered Sally Barker completely beneath his notice. As the two boats drew fairly close together, the girl in the pilot house waved, but he pretended not to see.
"You said something about a sailboat race when we were at the dock," Penny reminded him eagerly. "Is it an annual affair?"
Jack nodded, swerving to avoid a floating log. "Sally won the trophy last year. Before that I held it. This year I am planning on winning it back."
"Oh, I see," Penny commented dryly.
"That's not why I dislike Sally," Jack said to correct any misapprehension she might have gained. "It's just--well, she's so sure of herself--so blamed stubborn. And it's an insult to Tate's Beach the way she flaunts the trophy aboard that cheap old ferryboat!"
"How do you mean?" Mr. Parker inquired, his curiosity aroused.
Jack did not reply, for just then the engine coughed. The boat plowed on a few feet, and the motor cut off again.
"Now what?" Jack exclaimed, alarmed.
Even as he spoke, the engine died completely.
"Sounds to me as if we're out of gas," observed Mr. Parker. "How is your supply?"
A stricken look came upon Jack's wind-tanned face. "I forgot to fill the tank before I left the island," he confessed ruefully. "My father told me to be sure to do it, but I started off in such a hurry."
"Haven't you an extra can of fuel aboard?" Mr. Parker asked, trying to hide his annoyance.
Jack shook his head, gazing gloomily toward the distant island. The current had caught the boat and was carrying it downstream, away from the Gandiss estate.
"Nothing to do then, but get out the oars. And it will be a long, hard row."
"Oars?" Jack echoed weakly. "We haven't any aboard and no anchor either."
