But Tony was gazing fixedly ahead. He was tense and alert. Another shift of the wheel and the Napoli swerved again.
Then the Hardy boys saw the danger.
There were rocks at the base of the cliff. One of them, black and sharp, like an ugly tooth, jutted out of the water almost immediately at the side of the boat. Only Tony’s quick eye had saved them from striking against it. They had blundered into a veritable maze of reefs which extended for several yards ahead.
They held their breath.
It seemed impossible that they could run the gauntlet of those rocks without tearing the bottom out of the craft. But Tony’s steersmanship was marvelous. The motorboat threaded its way accurately among the jutting rocks. There was always the chance that a submerged reef might rip through the hull of the craft, but they had to take chances on that.
But luck was with them. The Napoli dodged the last ugly rock, and shot forward into open water.
Tony sank back with a sigh of relief.
“Whew, that was close!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t see those rocks until we were right on top of them. If we’d ever struck one of them we would have been goners.”
The Hardy boys believed him. Angry waves dashed against the base of the cliff. They would not have lived more than a few minutes if they had been wrecked in this place. They would have been battered to pieces against the rocks.
Suddenly, before them, they saw an opening in the side of the cliff. It was a long, narrow cove.