It was easy enough to see where the entrance to the channel was, but it was not an easy thing to reach it. The water was so shallow that the boat continually ran aground. A dozen times the boys had to turn back and try a new route, and more than once they had to get overboard to push the boat clear of a sand-bank. It took them nearly four hours to cross a bay that was less than a mile wide, and when they at last reached the entrance to the Shinnecock ditch, it was long after their lunch-time.
"There's another fog coming up," exclaimed Charley, looking toward the southwest. "This is too bad."
"And what makes it worse is that the wind has all died out," remarked Tom.
"We have had all kinds of weather since we started on this cruise," continued Charley. "Now I made sure that after the gale we had yesterday, we should have clear weather for a while."
"Let's get through to Shinnecock Bay, anyhow," said Harry. "We may be able to get as far as the light-house before the fog shuts down on us."
The oars were immediately got out, for the water was now too deep for poling, and Tom and Harry rowed the Ghost slowly up the ditch. It was literally a ditch, having been lately dug to connect the two bays, between which there had been no water communication for many years. Half way to Shinnecock Bay was the Quogue bridge. Here too the boys met some gentlemen, who had been snipe-shooting, and who helped them step the mast. It was not, however, worth while to set the sail, for there was not a breath of air stirring, and so the oars were resumed, and through the thick fog the Ghost proceeded into Shinnecock Bay.
"We might as well keep on till six o'clock," said Charley. "If we steer about north-northeast by compass, we will get somewhere. I don't know exactly where, but at any rate we can't go far out of our course. The chart doesn't show any inlet into Shinnecock Bay, so we can't possibly get out to sea."
"The tide is running into the bay, and it was running pretty strong at the bridge. We can drift along with it, and row very easy," said Tom.
"How far down is the light-house?" asked Joe.
"Well, it's half way down the bay, so it can't be more than five miles from where we are. We can certainly get there before night."