"Avast there, master Terry! not half the way, though I've waded part of it. There's wather between here and where you left me deep enough to drown Phil Macool. I didn't crass the bay by wading at all, at all." "How then?" "I was ferried on a nate little craft, as yez all knows of, the same that carried us safe to the sandspit." "The spar?" "Hexactly as ye say. Just as I was about to gee my last gasp, something struck me on the back o' the head, making me duck under the wather. What was that but the tops'l yard. Hech! I wasna long in mountin' on to it. I've left it out there afther I feeled my toes trailin' along the bottom. Now, my bonny babies, that's how Old Bill's been able to rejoin ye. Flippers all round once more; and then let's see what sort o' a shore we've got to make port upon." An enthusiastic shake of the hands passed between the old sailor and his youthful companions; after which the faces of all were turned towards the shore, still only dimly distinguishable, and uninviting as seen, but more welcome to the sight than the wilderness of water stretching as if to infinity behind them. CHAPTER NINE. UNCOMFORTABLE QUARTERS. The waders had still some distance to go before reaching dry land; but, after splashing for about twenty minutes longer, they at length stood upon the shore. As the tide was still flowing in they continued up the beach; so as to place themselves beyond the reach of the water, in the event of its rising still higher. They had to cross a wide stretch of wet sand before they could find a spot sufficiently elevated to secure them against the further influx of the tide. Having at length, discovered such a spot, they stopped to deliberate on what was best to be done. They would fain have had a fire to dry their dripping garments; for the night had grown chilly under the influence of the fog. The old sailor had his flint, steel, and tinder, the latter still safe in its water-tight tin box; but there was no fuel to be found near. The spar, even if they could have broken it up, was still floating, or stranded, in the shoal water, more than a mile to seaward. In the absence of a fire they adopted the only other mode they could think of to get a little of the water out of their clothes. They stripped themselves to the skin, wrung out each article separately; and then, giving each a good shake, put them on again, leaving it to the natural warmth of their bodies to complete the process of drying. By the time they had finished this operation, the mist had become sensibly thinner; and the moon, suddenly emerging from under a cloud, enabled them to obtain a better view of the shore upon which they had set foot. Landward, as far as they could see, there appeared to be nothing but white sand, shining like silver under the light of the moon. Up and down the coast the same landscape could be dimly distinguished.