“She was there ten minutes ago,” Hawke protested.
“Maybe the wind has blown out her lights. She can’t have cleared out, can she?” said Elliott.
“Cleared out? Not a bit of it,” said Henninger. “They’ve doused the lights themselves. Can’t you see what they’re trying to do? Here, Abdullah! Can we get to sea at once?”
The reis glanced gravely at the darkness where the sea roared through the gap in the reef, and then gravely back to his employer.
“It is as Allah wills,” he said. “But it cannot be done by men.”
“But Allah does will it!” cried Henninger, violently. “Call your men up. We must be outside the lagoon in half an hour.”
“Great heavens, Henninger! you aren’t going to try to take the dhow out through the gap in this pitch-dark?” Bennett exclaimed.
“Yes, I am. We’ve got to do it. Don’t you understand that the first thing in the morning we’ll be riddled from both sides? Those fellows are bringing up the steamer in the dark, to lie close off our position. But I reckon we can do something in the dark, too.”
“You’ll smash us, sure,” Elliott protested.
“I know something about sailing, and I’ve seen the Arabs do neater tricks than that at Zanzibar. We can do it. There’s a chance, anyhow, and I’d rather see the gold sunk again than have to surrender it in the morning. Confound it, reis, when are we going to start?”