[Illustration: A DOZEN SPEARS STRUCK THE WATER ROUND HER _Page 103_] "I think we can turn our head in that direction now," the mate said. "It is just twenty minutes since we left the shore, and we ought to be fully a mile out beyond the headland." "I quite agree with you. We have certainly a clear course now to the ship if we do not make any blunder in keeping it." The mate put the tiller a-starboard. "I wonder how long I am to keep it over?" he said. "It is a queer sensation steering without having an idea which way you are going." "The next gun will tell us whether we have gone too far round or not far enough," Mr. Atherton observed. "Well, we will try that," the mate said after a short pause. "I should think we ought to have made half a turn now." "Stop!" Wilfrid exclaimed a minute later. "Easy rowing, lads, and listen for the gun." The mate ordered silence in the boat. Half a minute later the report of the gun was again heard. There was a general exclamation of surprise, for instead of coming, as they expected, from a point somewhere ahead, it seemed to them all that the sound was almost astern of them. "Now, who would have thought that?" the mate said. "I had no idea she had gone round so far. Well, we must try again, and go to work more gently this time. Row on, men!" The tiller was put slightly a-port, and the boat continued her way. The talk that had gone on among the passengers was now hushed. Mr. Atherton had been chatting gaily with the girls from the time the fog came on, and except at the moment when they went ashore and were attacked by the natives, no uneasiness had been felt, for the sound of the guns had seemed to all an assurance that there could be no difficulty in rejoining the ship. The discovery that for a moment they had been actually going away from the ship had, for the first time since they rowed away from the shore, caused a feeling of real uneasiness, and when Wilfrid again gave notice that the report would soon be heard, all listened intently, and there was a general exclamation of satisfaction when the sound was heard nearly ahead. "We have got it now," the mate said. "Row on, lads; a long steady stroke and we shall be in before dinner is cold yet." The conversation now recommenced. "Is it any use my stopping here any longer?" Jim Allen cried from the bow; "because if not I will come aft to you. It is a good deal warmer sitting together than it is out here by myself." "Yes, you may as well come aft," the mate replied. "As long as we keep the guns ahead we know that we are clear of rocks. It certainly has come on bitterly cold." There was a general chorus of assent. "I should think it would be a good thing, Ryan, to get the sail aft and unlash it from the gaff and put it over our legs, it will make a lot of difference in the warmth." "I think that that is a very good idea," the mate assented. "Lay in your oar for a minute, Johnson, and get that sail aft."