They were indeed in a big bay, with land on three sides. The sun, now half way and more down the western sky, shone in an unclouded field, and the water danced in the fresh shore breeze.
Then every fellow shouted and waved his hat, such was the relief that passed over them at the successful termination of the long outside dash.
"Don't any one of you ever dare to run my bully engine down, after it has stood by me so nobly," George was saying, as they started at a faster clip up still further into Winyah Bay, into which the Peedee River empties.
No one was disposed to cast the slightest reflection on the cranky motor of the speed boat; for just then they were feeling at peace with all the world, and quite ready to forgive their worst enemies.
That night they camped on the shore of a creek that emptied into the bay, ready to take up their southern journey with the coming of the morrow.
CHAPTER XXII.
SAVANNAH AT LAST.
After that came some more hard inside work. There were times when even the sanguine Jack began to fear that they would never reach Charleston; for even at high tide they found the connecting creeks in many instances little more than shallow ponds, and before they could break through, considerable pushing and dragging had to be done.
But where there is a will there usually appears to be a way; and by slow degrees they drew nearer the city on the coast.