fell to the share of the rest.

Bumpus had been hanging on like a good fellow. He greatly feared lest
some sudden violent lurch of the boat toss him headlong into that yeasty
sea; which he was gazing upon with terror.

At the same time Bumpus had been closely observing the actions of the
eccentric motor, and was one of the first to discover that it had
petered out, giving up the ghost completely, as Giraffe would have said.

"Oh! what can we do now, Thad?" shouted the stout scout, as usual
turning to the quick-witted one in an emergency; but for once even Thad
was at his wit's ends to know what to attempt, the situation was that
desperate.

"Everybody hold on!" was all Thad called back.

There was hardly any need of this injunction, for each fellow had
managed to brace himself, so that unless the boat actually "turned
turtle," or at least was thrown on her beam ends, they could not be
dislodged.

Thad was straining his eyesight as best he could, endeavoring to see
ahead. The furious wind of course made this a difficult task, because it
not only sent the waves high, but as these broke into foam along their
crests, this was actually cut off as with an invisible knife, and blown
away in the shape of flying spud; so that the very air was surcharged
with a fine mist, rendering it hard to distinguish anything fifty feet
off.