The Tortoise was racing through the dark water. She was listed over so that her lee gunwale seemed likely to dip under. Miss Rutherford, in spite of her wish for shipwreck, scrambled up to windward. They reached the point of Ardilaun and fled, bending and staggering, down the narrow passage between it and Inishlean. Priscilla took the mainsheet in her hand and ordered Frank to luff a little. There was another period of rushing, heavily listed, with the wind fair abeam. Now and then, as a squall struck the sails, Priscilla let the mainsheet run out and allowed the Tortoise to right herself. The sea was flecked with the white tops of short, steep waves, raised hurriedly, as it were irritably by the wind. A few heavy drops of rain fell. The whole sky became very dark. A bright zig-zag of light flashed down, the thunder crashed over head. The rain came down like a solid sheet of water.
“Let her away again now,” said Priscilla. “We can run right down on Inishark. Be ready to round her up into the wind when I tell you. I daren’t jibe her.”
“Don’t,” said Frank. “I say, you’d better steer.”
“Can’t now. We couldn’t possibly change places. Are you all right, Miss Rutherford?”
“Splendid. Couldn’t be better. I’m soaked to the skin. Can’t possibly be any wetter even if we swim for it.”
Inishark loomed, a low dark mass under their bow, dimly seen through a veil of blinding rain which fell so heavily that the floor boards under their feet were already awash.
“We’ll have to bail in a minute or two if this goes on,” said Priscilla. “I wonder where the tin is?”
A roar of thunder drowned her voice. Miss Rutherford and Frank saw her gesticulate wildly and point towards the island. Two small patches of white were to be seen near the shore.
“Their tents,” yelled Priscilla. “We have them now if we don’t sink. Luff her up, Cousin Frank, luff her up for all you’re worth. We must get her off on the other tack or we’ll be past them.”
She hauled on the mainsheet as she spoke. The Tortoise rounded up into the wind, lay over till the water began to pour over her side, righted herself again and stood suddenly on an even keel, her sails flapping wildly, the boat herself trembling like a creature desperately frightened. Then she fell off on her new tack. Priscilla dragged Miss Rutherford up to windward. Frank, guided by instinct rather than by any knowledge of what was happening, scrambled up past the end of the long tiller. Priscilla let the main sheet run out again. The Tortoise raced straight for the shore.