“Sure have, Biff. Remember when we spotted it? There was a large, oval patch of whitish lava just to the left of where we were resting. I’m sure we can spot it from the sea.”
“Okay. You be the lookout. I’m going to keep this boat on as true a course as I can. I think we’re just about as far off shore now as we figured that sunken boat was. What do you think?”
“Looks right to me. What do you want me to do?”
“You take the glasses. Keep them turned on the Mauna Loa slope. Soon as you pick up that oval lava patch, sing out.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
Li went forward with the binoculars. He kept them trained shoreward, aiming them about two thousand feet up the slope.
The distance to the spot the boys had in mind was greater than they had thought it to be. They covered a lot of water. Biff checked his watch. He hoped they could spot the sunken hulk before the light went.
“Land ho!” Li sang out and came racing back over the deck to the cockpit. “Oval patch coming into sight, captain. Here, take the glasses and see for yourself.”
Biff turned the tiller over to Li and took a look. That was the patch, all right. It was off their starboard bow, still a good two miles ahead. Biff revved up the engine, and the Easy Action’s auxiliary pushed the yawl along at a good eight knots. In twenty minutes—Biff timed the run, figuring the miles the yawl would cover at full speed—they were dead opposite the lava patch. Biff cut the motor.
“It ought to be somewhere about here,” Biff said. “You shin up the mainmast. I’m going to put the yawl in a tight circle, starting right here, then I’ll increase the circle every time we make one full turn.”