"Ah nevah even scraped the paint of a boat in ten yeahs o' sailin', sah," the colored boatman answered, "an' thar's lots o' shoals, too."
"It looks as if she were resting on the bottom now!" the boy said.
"No, sah," was the confident reply, "the tide's full in an' Ah knows this whahf right well. Thar's two feet of wateh under her, right now."
Early Bird—for both boatman and boat answered to the same name—deftly took aboard the glasses and other special material that had been prepared, not forgetting a large lunch basket that had been sent down from the hotel, and then he pushed off into the clear and shining water. The early morning breeze laid the little craft over on her side but she had a good pair of heels and in a few minutes the party was well on its way across Grassy Bay.
"Where are we going?" asked Colin.
Early Bird pointed beyond a group of small islands to where there seemed to be a depression in the land.
"Thar's a channel, sah," he said, "right in between those two islands. Thar's a swing bridge across, but the keepeh is always on the lookout and we can go right through."
A half hour's sail brought them to the gap between the islands. Though the bridge was shut Early Bird steered confidently straight for the center, and it swung just in time, the boat shooting by with undiminished speed and rounding a point to the open water beyond. Before them stretched an unbroken vista of ocean.
"The next land south of you, Colin," remarked the curator, "is Antarctica."