CHAPTER XXIII.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BAY To go back to Tom, Sam, and Captain Blossom at the time that they placed the two dead goats in their rowboat and prepared to return to the camp.
It was already raining by the time the shore of the bay was reached, and scarcely had they begun to row when the water came pouring down in torrents.
"Gracious! I must say I don't like this!" cried Tom.

"The rain is running down my neck in a stream." "I move we row into shore over yonder," said Sam, pointing up the coast.

"There are some trees which will shelter both us and the boat nicely." Captain Blossom was willing, and in a few minutes they were under the trees and wringing out their clothes as best they could.
"If I know anything about it, this storm is going to last for some time," said the captain, after a long look at the sky.
"Such a downfall as this can't last," said Sam.

"Perhaps we can get home between showers." It was dry under the trees for about half an hour, but then the water began to reach them once more, and they had to shift their position again.
This kept up for some time, until all were wet through and thoroughly uncomfortable, when Tom proposed that they start for home regardless of the storm.
"We can't get any wetter than we are," he declared.

"And the sooner we reach the house the sooner we'll be able to change our clothes." The others agreed, and when the worst of the lightning and thunder had passed they set off once more, two rowing and the third steering the boat and bailing out the water, which came in faster than was desirable.
"When it rains in the tropics, it rains," observed Tom.