Then, pulling the dinghy right up against the side of the boat, I waited my chance and dropped down into her.

It was just a question as to whether I could clear them, and I doubt if any winner of the Diamond Sculls could have shoved that dinghy along much faster than I did for the next few seconds.

"I'll row myself ashore," I said, "and leave the dinghy on the beach.

Then scrambing aft he grabbed hold of the tow rope and swiftly hauled the dinghy alongside.

'Roy, can't we manage to right the dinghy?' 'You and I might.

I know anyhow that that was my chief sensation as I rowed the dinghy towards the wet slimy causeway, lit by its solitary lamp.

"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the dinghy to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along.

" I tied up the dinghy and followed her inside, where the table was decorated with bread and butter and the remnants of the cold pheasant, while a kettle hissed away cheerfully on the Primus.

It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was soon scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy behind her.

I tugged the dinghy down to the water, and pushed off for the Betty, which looked strangely small and unreal lying there in the dim, mysterious twilight.

It would take all their united strength to turn the dinghy over.

" She scrambled aft, and unshipping the dinghy, came sculling towards me across the intervening water.

Then hitching up the dinghy I added curiously: "What's up, Tommy?

The Asp having made a signal for assistance, and it being ascertained that she had lost her dinghy and bumpkin by a sea which struck her while crossing a tide-race, it was judged necessary to run for the nearest place where the damage could be repaired.

Captain Spade and the crew of the Ebba remain behind, with the exception of four men who man the dinghy, which has been lowered.