“Take in nothing! We’ll nail our colors to the mast, so to speak, Dave. If the thing goes bust we go bust too, so far as getting anywhere is concerned. All the same, I’m glad those halyards are of fairly new manila.” Jim, who did not know precisely what this new game Dave and Tempest were playing was, sat steadying the boat and staring hour after hour over the black expanse of water. He knew they were bound for an island, and that the pair were looking for a wreck; but beyond that he was not concerned. They had all been distressed mariners together, and therefore had a bond of sympathy between them. Moreover, he had nowhere else to go, and might just as well be on the _Nautilus_ as anywhere else. “Grr,” he muttered suddenly about midnight, peering almost straight ahead. “Him light over there.” The others looked but could see nothing. “Sure?” asked Tempest. “Him light not there now. Him gone,” said the Kanaka. “That’s strange,” said Dave. “What do you make of it, Tempest? It couldn’t have been the _Firefly_, could it?” “Can’t say. These Kanakas have wonderful sight, but the _Firefly_ must be a mighty long way off.” “But they won’t be carrying regulation lights, any more than we are.” “That’s true, but I expect they have some sort of a lamp on board like ours, to keep an eye on the compass, and one of them may have been holding it up at that minute. All the same, we have to take our hats off to Jim if he really did see it.” Although the wind continued to blow moderately hard that night, it was steady, and therefore caused no particular anxiety. The _Nautilus_ was eating up the knots like a racer, and Tempest awaited dawn anxiously in the hope of sighting Fanning Island. “Keep your eyes skinned for land, Jim,” he said. Jim merely nodded. The sky was growing fairly light when he pointed with a brown forefinger away on the starboard bow. “Him land,” he declared. “Rubbish!” commented Tempest. “That’s a bit of a cloud on the horizon.” Dave was levelling the binoculars in the direction. “He’s right, Tempest,” he said. “Gee, but that’s fine!” said Tempest. “I hardly expected to hit it off quite as near as that, not knowing anything about the currents. Allow me to remark, Dave, that that was some feat of seamanship on my part. Jim, you bottle-nosed squab, glue your eyes to these glasses and tell me if you see anything of a sailing boat in the offing. There’s a friend of mine in it, and I particularly want to say ‘good morning’ to him.” Jim obeyed instructions, and searched in every direction without success. “I guess they’ve taken a short cut,” Tempest observed. “Flagg didn’t have to make Fanning Island first. Well, well, that’s a point in his favor. It puts him another hour, or maybe two, ahead. I hope one of his sails splits, and that’s the most charitable thing I can say for him.”