Dick stood up and gazed ahead. The white patch was getting plainer, but he could see nothing else. There was, however, a difference in the motion, and the sea was confused. He ordered the engine to be slowed, and they ran on until the belt of foam bore abeam. They must be almost upon the reef now, or else in the channel, and for the next minute or two nobody spoke. If they had missed the gap, the first warning would be a shock, and then the combers that rolled up behind them would destroy the stranded craft.
She did not strike; the surf was level with her quarter, and Jake, thrusting down a long boathook, found no bottom. In another minute or two the water suddenly got smooth, and he threw down the boathook.
“We’re through,” he said in a strained voice. “The reef’s astern.”
“Try the hand-lead,” Dick ordered him, as he changed his course, since he was apparently heading for the beach.
Jake got four fathoms and soon afterwards eighteen feet, when Dick stopped the engine and the launch rolled upon the broken swell. A dark streak that looked like forest indicated the land, and a line of foam that glimmered with phosphorescent light ran outshore of them. Now they were to lee of the reef, the hoarse clamor of the surf rang about the boat. Unfolding the chart, they studied it by the engine-lamp. It was on too small a scale to give many details, but they saw that the reef ran roughly level with the coast and ended in a nest of shoals near a point.
“We could ride out a gale here,” Jake remarked.
“We could, if we wanted,” Dick replied.
Jake looked at him rather hard and then made a sign of resignation. “Well, I guess I’ve had enough, but if you’re going on—— How do you reckon you’ll get through the shoals ahead?”
“I imagine some of them are mangrove islands, and if so, there’ll be a channel of a sort between them. In fact, the chart the broker showed me indicated something of the kind. With good luck we may find it.”
“Very well,” said Jake. “I’m glad to think it will be a soft bottom if we run aground.”