Part 28 (1/2)

'Sixteenswell most of the way, close to land'

'Out of the question; it's too public, too, if it clears The steao inside over the sands Ah? Can you possibly find the way?'

'I shouldn't wonder But I don't believe you see the hitch It's the _tih water was about 815: it's now 1015, and all those sands are drying off We must cross the See-Gat and strike that boomed channel, the Memmert Balje; strike it, freeze on to it--can't cut off an inch--and pass that ”watershed” you see there before it's too late It's an infernally bad one, I can see

Not even a dinghy will cross it for an hour each side of loater'

'Well, how far is the ”watershed”?'

'Good Lord! What are we talking for? Change,off his shore clothes, and I did the sa for bends; hour and a half hard pulling; two, allowing for checks

Are you fit? You'll have to pull the most Then there are six or seven et there?'

'Leave that toit clears?'

'After we get there? Bad; but we must risk that If it clears on the way there it doesn't matter by this route; we shall beback?'

'We shall have a rising tide, anyway If the fog lasts--can you_and_ dark?'

'The dark ht to see the compass and chart by You triive me the scissors, and don't speak a word for ten hy--(by Jove!

though, don't rub and whisky, the boat-corapnel and line'

'Foghorn?'

'Yes, and the whistle too'

'A gun?'

'What for?'

'We're after ducks'

'All right And muffle the rowlocks with cotton-waste'

I left Davies absorbed in the charts, and softly went about my own functions In ten

'I've done,' he whispered 'Now _shall_ we go?'

'I've thought it out Yes,' I answered

This was only roughly true, for I could not have stated in words all the pros and cons that I had balanced It was an impulse that drove e, perhaps, of superstition; for the quest had begun in a fog and ht fitly end in one

It enty-five minutes to eleven e noiselessly pushed off

'Let her drift,' whispered Davies, 'the ebb'll carry her past the pier'

We slid by the 'Dulcibella', and she disappeared Then we sat without speech or le of tide through piles approached and passed The dinghy appeared to be motionless, just as a balloon in the clouds ed by a current of air In reality ere driving out of the Riff-Gat into the See-Gat The dinghy swayed to a light swell

'Now, pull,' said Davies, under his breath; 'keep it long and steady, above all steady--both arms with equal force'

I was on the boart; he _vis-a-vis_ to me on the stern seat, his left hand behind hier on a small square of paper which lay on his knees; this was a section cut out fro German chart _[See Chart B]_ On the midshi+p-thwart between us lay the compass and a watch Between these three objects--compass, watch, and chart--his eyes darted constantly, never looking up or out, save occasionally for a sharp glance over the side at the flying bubbles, to see if I was sustaining a regular speed My duty was to be his autoine whose revolutions can be counted and used as data by the navigator