"We must be running along the coast," decided Tom.
"How can you guess that?" inquired Jack.
"Yes, I dinna ken how you know, unless you hae the second sight," agreed Sandy, who had in a large measure recovered his self-possession at the idea of the proximity of land.
"Easy enough," responded Tom, "the echo only comes from one side. If we were in a harbor or channel it would come from both sides."
"So much the worse," declared Jack. "We know now that we are not anywhere near Kadiak, for that is rock walled on either side and we should get the echo from both directions."
"Still, it's something to know that we are even within touch of land," said Tom, and in this they all agreed.
After a while the roaring of the surge grew less loud. This gave Tom an idea.
"We must be near to an inlet or something that will afford a landing place," he said, as the thunder of the surf diminished and finally almost died away. "What do you say if we go ashore?"
"What kind of a country will we find?" objected Jack.
"It couldn't be worse than tossing about in this dory, could it?" demanded Tom. "At any rate, we might find people ashore and a shelter and some food."