Looking back, she could see Oily Dave coming along at a shuffling pace behind her, and with an imperious wave of the hand to hurry his movements she sped onward now at a quicker pace, because the ground was descending, and the hill behind her broke the force of the wind.

At the bottom of the hill there were two tracks, both of which led round among the gulches or tideholes, only by different ways and to different points, and it was here that Katherine knew she would be at fault.
Hero still trotted contentedly just behind, as if perfectly satisfied that she should take the lead.

But a mistake now might be disastrous and waste hours of time; so, calling the dog forward, she began to talk to him in an eager, caressing fashion: "Good old Hero, clever old dog, go and find Mary! Mary wants you ever so badly; hurry up, old chappy, hurry up!" The dog threw up its head with an eager whine, and looked round as if to make certain where Mary was to be found, "Mary, Mary, find her, go along!" cried Katherine; then with a short bark Hero turned to the track leading seawards, and set off at a trot, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Katherine groaned.

The tideholes nearest the sea naturally filled first, and it could not be very far from high tide already.
Looking back, she saw Oily Dave gaining upon her, and waved to him again to make haste.

It was of no use to shout, because the wind was blowing from him to her, and so her voice would not carry.
Then a dash of cold rain struck her from behind, and thankful she was that it was behind, for if it had struck her in the face she could hardly have stood against it.