The surf!
What did that mean?
It meant that land was near. And what land?
There was only one land that this could tell of—it was that land which they had been approaching for days; the land which they had watched so closely all the previous day, and to which at evening they had been drawn so near. The name of the land he could not know, but he had seen it, and he remembered its drear and desolate aspect, its iron-bound shores, its desert forests. It was upon this shore that the surf was beating which now he heard, and the loudness of that sound told him how near it must be.
It seemed to him that it could not be more than half a mile away at the farthest.
And the ship was drifting on!
This first discovery was a renewal of his despair. He could only find comfort in the thought that the sea had subsided so greatly. What ought he now to do?
Ought he to awake the boys and tell them? He hesitated.
Pat had by this time fallen asleep, worn out with weariness and pain. Bart had not the heart to wake him just yet.
Suddenly there was an opening in the sky overhead, and through a rift in the clouds the moon beamed forth. Bart started up and looked all around. The morn disclosed the scene.