“It is indeed land,” Virginia replied, a prayer of gratitude in her heart, “but not the land that we left yesterday, and, what is more, I believe it is an island. A very long one, it would seem, but I think that I can see both ends of it.” Then after a moment. “Oh, I’m so afraid that we are going to drift beyond it.”
At that moment Barbara appeared on deck, and, noting the excited faces of her two friends, she asked eagerly, “What has happened?”
When she heard that Virginia was afraid that they would not drift to the island, Babs exclaimed, “Girls, surely there is a rudder! Peyton taught me how to steer his sail-boat the year before he left home.” Even as she spoke, she was hurrying to the stern. The rudder handle was swinging aimlessly.
At Barbara’s firm touch, the boat responded and swung around, heading in the direction toward which Virginia was pointing.
The other girls appeared on deck and were overjoyed to see land, which, as the sun rose higher, and the fog lifted, was plainly discernable, not more than an eighth of a mile ahead of them.
They were soon near enough to see that it was a large, rocky island with a densely wooded hill rising high in the middle of it. Too, there was a long stretch of deserted beach shining white in the sun.
“I don’t see anyone about,” Eleanor said, making field glasses of her hands, “but then it is very early. Perhaps the inhabitants are not yet astir.”
“Megsy, stand in the bow, will you?” the girl at the rudder called. “Sometimes, as one nears land, there are almost hidden shoals. Keep a close watch ahead, and, if you do see one, motion which way I am to steer.”
Eleanor joined Margaret in the bow of the boat and they gazed anxiously into the water, over which the boat was slowly drifting. Suddenly Megsy waved frantically to the left. Barbara pushed on the rudder with all her strength, but it was too late, The boat slid up on a wide flat submerged shoal.
There was a cry of alarm from the younger girls, but Virginia calmed them. After looking into the water, she said, “We are in no immediate danger. Now, let us think calmly just what may happen and what we would better do.”