So absorbed had the Doctor been in his purpose of flight that he failed even to see the action of Shrimp. Just as the launch began to move away from the wharf, the rooster leaped lightly to the forward deck. It never occurred to him that he might be unwelcome. He entered the boat as he would have the skiff for a voyage with Ichabod. He was a sociable bird, and fond of a cruise. When the opportunity offered he seized on it with pleased promptness. By the time that Doctor Gifford Garnet chanced to observe Shrimp's presence, the launch was at such a distance from the Island that it would have been folly for him to turn back for the sake of restoring the creature to its place. The launch tossed and pitched dangerously when it came into the broad reaches of Core Sound. It seemed indeed at times that it must inevitably be swamped. But the Doctor had skill and daring, and now, in the face of this new danger, he was cool and resourceful. Here there were no rocks to increase the danger as there had been at Ichabod's Island, and eventually he guided the launch to safety under the lea of the wooded shore of the mainland. The first intention of Garnet was to make a landing in order to await the coming of night, when, as he knew from past experiences, the wind would almost certainly fall, after which the voyage could be resumed without danger and in comparative comfort. The Doctor found, however, that his plan was impossible of execution. To his discomfiture, he perceived that the heavily wooded shore was nothing other than a vast swamp, without anywhere a dry spot on which to step foot. Upon making this discovery, he allowed the boat to drift a short distance away from the land, and then dropped overboard the tiny anchor.