“That you, Jack?” cried Sir John. “Good-morning. Well done! Come, this is brave.”
“Splendid!” cried Captain Bradleigh. “Why you have soon come round.”
Jack woke fully to the fact now that it was a false alarm, and strove hard to get rid of the scared look with which he had come on deck for help to drag Doctor Instow up. But still he was not quite assured, for he started suddenly as, plosh! there came another rush of water over the bows. “What’s that?” he cried.
“Sea having a game with the yacht,” said the captain merrily. “Splashing her nose. Look how she rises and glides over that wave. Regular racer, isn’t she?”
“Yes, going so fast,” panted Jack breathlessly. “But—but is there no danger—of her sinking?”
“Just about as much as there would be of a well-corked-up bottle, my lad. The more you pushed her under, the more she’d bob up again. Oh no, she won’t sink.”
“I’m glad you came up,” said Sir John. “This breeze is glorious, and I never saw the sea more beautiful; look how the waves glisten where the moon falls upon them on one side, and how they catch the soft pearly light from the east on the other. It is a lovely effect.”
“Yes, father, very beautiful,” said the boy sadly. “Are we far from land, Captain Bradleigh?”
“Yes, and getting farther every minute. Don’t want any steam with this breeze. If it holds, we shall regularly race across the bay.”
“Bay?” said Jack, feeling that he must say something to keep them from seeing how nervous he was. “Mount’s Bay?”