Bright and fierce, a flare of electric blue came across the sky. In its light they made out what looked like fairly firm earth, running in a swiftly narrowing strip from the mainland, a promontory jutting in a curving line into the grass-covered waters. If only that jut of land extended far enough they thought it possible to reach the smashed airplane by a safer route than the dory could afford. Already it dipped and rolled, as they drove its nose on the wash of foam into the soft bank between the grasses.
Holding tightly to a handful of the sturdy vegetation, Don began to progress into the bow. From the windward side Garry dug his oar into soft bottom, steadying their craft as well as he could.
The wind swept the stern around into the grass, but Don managed to get a leg over the bow, to test the firmness of the bank.
“I think it’s solid enough to hold us,” he cried, and got out of the dory, being careful to cling to the rope at the prow, lest his chum be drifted beyond the patch of solid ground, separating them and leaving Garry to battle alone against the surge of wind and water.
“It’s safe!” Don added. “I’ll hold the painter, Garry. Come on. Be careful to leave the oars in the bottom or the grass might pull them out of the boat.”
“I will!”
Garry picked up his first aid kit, stowed the oars, crawled forward and tumbled to a yielding sod which, nevertheless, did not break through.
Guiding themselves by the steadily increasing succession of lightning gleams, their voices drowned in the quickly following growls of thunder, wondering about the Dragonfly, about Scott, probably aloft in the Dart, Don and Garry went from the dory, tied to a root, along a perilous and unknown path.
Don, in the van, had to part clumps of tossing, cumbering grass to test the solidity of footing before he went ahead; Garry, clutching his kit and steadying his partner when a foot would miss the sometimes narrow band of safe path, followed.
As a glare of vivid fire, followed almost instantly by a peal of angry thunder, revealed the upthrust wing of the smashed craft within a few feet, to one side, Don stopped.