"Where do you expect to find it?" "I don't know," Dick admitted. "There are reefs and shoals along the coast that we might get in behind." Jake laughed. "Well, I guess this is a pretty rash adventure. You won't turn back while you can see, and there are safer things than running for a shoal you don't know, in the dark. However, there's a point one might get a bearing from abeam and I'll try to fix our position. It might be useful later." Stooping beside the compass, he gazed at the hazy land across its card, and then crept under the narrow foredeck with a chart. He felt the bows sweep upwards, pause for a moment, and suddenly lurch down, but now the sea was long and regular, the motion was rhythmic. Besides, the thud and gurgle of water outside the boat's thin planks were soothing and harmonized with the measured beat of the screw. Jake got drowsy and although he had meant to take another bearing when he thought he could double the angle, presently fell asleep. It was getting dark when he awoke and crept into the cockpit. There was a change in the motion, for the launch did not roll so much and the combers no longer broke in showers of spray against her side. She swung up with a swift but easy lift, the foam boiling high about her rail, and then gently slid down into the trough. It was plain that she was running before the wind, but Jake felt that he must pull himself together when he looked aft, for there is something strangely daunting in a big following sea. A high, white-topped ridge rolled up behind the craft, roaring as it chased her, while a stream of spray blew from its curling crest. It hid the rollers that came behind; there was nothing to be seen but a hill of water, and Jake found it a relief to fix his eyes ahead. The backs of the seas were smoother and less disturbing to watch as they faded into the gathering dark. When the comber passed, he turned to Dick, who stood, alert and highly strung, at the helm. "You're heading for the land," he said. "What are you steering by?" "I got the bearing of a point I thought I recognized on the chart before I lost sight of the coast. There's a long reef outshore of it, with a break near the point. If we can get through, we might find shelter." "Suppose there's something wrong with your bearing, or you can't make good your course?" "Then there'll be trouble," Dick answered grimly. "We'll have the reef to lee and she won't steam out again."