"Hardly. If a little breeze rises, it may carry this beastly old fog
away, and then we can see where we are. Meanwhile, Jerry and I will try
to find out what it is that makes our motor balk just when we want it
most."

They sat there for a long while, Bluff and Will looking this way and
that, to see if there was any object near by; but only that heavy blanket
of sea fog surrounded them.

"Do you hear the roll of the water on the shore still?" asked Frank
finally.

"I haven't for some time, now," admitted Bluff.

"And I was just wondering, as I sat here and watched the water as it
flowed past, whether we were not drifting out further all the time,"
suggested Will.

"Say! what makes you think that? Seems to me you're always scaring up
ghosts, and making things look blacker than they are," grumbled Bluff.

"Well, you just watch that water passing. What does that mean, eh?
Something is moving all the while, and it's either the boat or the
tide," claimed Will.

Frank stuck his head over the side and gave a look.

"He's right about it," was his speedy comment. "The tide is carrying us
out all the time, and that's why you don't hear the sound of the rollers
on the sand!"