said Kernel Cob.

"Don't you see something dark against the sky?" she asked.

"No, I don't," said Kernel Cob, and he shaded his eyes with his hand the way sailors do when they look for something at sea.

"I hope it isn't a whale," said Sweetclover.

"It had better not be," said Kernel Cob, "if he knows what's good for him," and he patted his sword in a very brave manner.

"It's getting bigger and bigger," said Sweetclover. "Don't you see it?"

"Sure!" said Kernel Cob, "I saw it all the time, it's a ship." And like all people who tell fibs he was found out, for it wasn't a ship at all.

"It's land!" said Sweetclover, joyfully, and sure enough it was, for soon you could see the trees. And as they sailed closer the trees grew taller and taller, and after a while you could see the shore.

"It's a little island," said Sweetclover.

"What's an island?" asked Kernel Cob.

"Didn't you ever go to school?" asked Sweetclover.

"No, but I wish I had."

But Kernel Cob didn't answer. He just steered the shoeboat toward the shore by putting one leg over the side as if it were a rudder, and in a little while they ran the boat up on the shore and Sweetclover hopped out and Kernel Cob pulled the boat up on the beach so the tide, when it came in, wouldn't take it out to sea again.

And they walked along the beach.

"I'm very hungry," said Sweetclover.

"Sit down here," said Kernel Cob, "and I'll see if I can find something for dinner." And he went along the beach.

After he had walked a long distance, he found a tree with some nuts on it, and he picked a lot of them and put them in his hat and started back to Sweetclover.

You may imagine his astonishment when he reached the spot where he had left her and discovered that she was not there.

But, all about on the sand, he saw foot-prints as of a great number of bare footed people.

"The savages have taken her," he muttered, and drawing his sword he ran off in the direction they had taken.

Through the woods he ran, and pretty soon he came to a clearing and there was Sweetclover surrounded by about a thousand savages shouting and dancing and waving spears above their heads. And Kernel Cob grasped his sword firmly in his hand and ran at them, and, so fiercely did he fight, that in a minute he had driven away about a hundred of them. And he would have driven them all away, but his foot slipped and, before he could get up again, he was overpowered and bound hand and foot.

And they brought him before their chief who was a great giant.

And when it was night, the savages tied the two captives to trees and went to sleep about a great fire. And in the middle of the night when Kernel Cob was thinking of some way in which to make their escape, he heard something stirring in the grass at his feet.

"Who's that?" he whispered.

"Tommy Hare," was the reply, and he ran out from a stone behind which he had been hiding.

"Good for you!" said Kernel Cob. "Come stand up on your hind legs, like a good fellow, and untie me from this tree."

"Who are you?" asked Tommy cautiously.

"I'm Kernel Cob and this is my little friend Sweetclover and we're looking for Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather and we've been captured by the savages who may keep us here forever if you don't help us."

"That I will," said Tommy, and in a jiffy he had gnawed them free.

"Now, show us the way down to the beach as quickly as you can," said Kernel Cob, "for it will be daylight soon and then it will be too late. Come."

And they started running as fast as they could.

And not a minute too soon, for they had got only half way when they heard the shouts of the savages and knew that their escape had been discovered.

Faster and faster they ran, but the savages gained on them at every step and were soon close upon their heels.

"Jump on my back!" shouted Tommy, "for I can run faster than all of them put together."

And they did so and flew over the ground as fast as the wind.

And they reached the shore and jumped into the shoeboat and Tommy shoved them off with a great push that put them out of sight of land, and the savages' spears fell in the water behind them.

"That was a narrow escape," said Sweetclover, as she settled down in the boat. "I hope Tommy Hare wasn't caught by the savages."

But she needn't have worried in the least about Tommy, for as soon as he had pushed them off, he scurried away and was at that moment sitting under a tree, eating his breakfast.

CHAPTER VI

Kernel Cob and Sweetclover sailed all day. The shoeboat rode the waves with perfect ease. Up it went and up till it came to the top of a great wave, and then it would race down on the other side as if they were bob-sledding and great sport it was, too, out in the middle of the ocean, and Sweetclover laughed and even old serious Kernel Cob smiled and forgot all about fighting.

Toward the afternoon, the sea quieted down and they rode along faster and presently, Sweetclover, who was always watching, cried out:

"I see another island!"

"So it is!" said Kernel Cob, looking in the wrong direction.

"Not over there. Look!" and she pointed.

Sure enough. There was a large black stretch of what appeared to be land. And it was very flat.

"I hope there will be no more savages to fight," said Sweetclover.

"I hope there will," said Kernel Cob.

"It's moving," said Sweetclover. "It seems to be coming this way."

"Where did it go?" asked Kernel Cob, for at that moment it disappeared altogether.

"I'm sure I saw it," said Sweetclover. "Didn't you?"

But Kernel Cob only frowned and looked serious.

And, in a few minutes, they saw it again, but this time it was very much nearer and bigger and the sun made it look very smooth.

"It's a whale!" said Sweetclover.

"Who cares," said he, and drew his sword.

And the turtle, for it was a turtle and not a whale at all, came towards them and it was very large, nearly as big around as an acre. And when it got very near to the boat, its head came up out of its shell and the little shoe boat shook with the waves it made.

And the turtle was just about to snap the boat in its mouth when Kernel Cob swung his sword and with one mighty stroke cut off its head.

"Ha, ha!" cried Kernel Cob, but, receiving no reply from Sweetclover, he looked about and found she had fainted.

He found also that the boat was leaking badly from a crack in the side made, no doubt, by the turtle.

Quickly, he lifted Sweetclover and carried her aboard the back of the turtle and laid her gently down, for the shoe was sinking and he was no sooner out of it than it turned over on its side.

"Not a minute too soon," muttered Kernel Cob, "and now to revive Sweetclover." This he soon did and she opened her eyes and looked about in wonder.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"On the old turtle's back," laughed Kernel Cob.

"But we shall never get anywhere now, for we have no sail," said Sweetclover. And she began to cry.

"Crying never did anybody any good," said Kernel Cob, "I wish you would stop."

"I can't help it," said Sweetclover, "I'm miserable."

"What's all this about?" said a strange voice, and looking about quickly, they saw a sea-horse riding up to them.