by the brig in her rapid course prevented him from reflecting much upon
the incertitude of the future and upon his own unusual situation.

Now he was only exceedingly anxious to see the yacht again, and it was
with a feeling of very real satisfaction that he saw all plain sail
being made on the brig. Through the remaining hours of the night he sat
grasping the tiller and keeping his eyes on the shadowy and high pyramid
of canvas gliding steadily ahead of his boat with a slight balancing
movement from side to side.



IV

It was noon before the brig, piloted by Lingard through the deep
channels between the outer coral reefs, rounded within pistol-shot a low
hummock of sand which marked the end of a long stretch of stony ledges
that, being mostly awash, showed a black head only, here and there
amongst the hissing brown froth of the yellow sea. As the brig drew
clear of the sandy patch there appeared, dead to windward and beyond a
maze of broken water, sandspits, and clusters of rocks, the black hull
of the yacht heeling over, high and motionless upon the great expanse of
glittering shallows. Her long, naked spars were inclined slightly as
if she had been sailing with a good breeze. There was to the lookers-on
aboard the brig something sad and disappointing in the yacht's aspect
as she lay perfectly still in an attitude that in a seaman's mind is
associated with the idea of rapid motion.

"Here she is!" said Shaw, who, clad in a spotless white suit, came just
then from forward where he had been busy with the anchors. "She is well