Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/226

204 Only the utter recklessness of two headlong boys could have conceived such an expedition;  only the almost uncanny skill of one and the  blind obedience of the other could ever have  carried it through. Billy, who did not yet know all that there was to be learned of sailing, could still realize that never had he seen a  boat handled as was the little Echo with  Johann Happs at the helm. He himself made a better assistant than he had on the day  when he and Captain Saulsby capsized; he  knew what to do when he could help, and  how to keep out of the way when he could not.

The harbour of Appledore faced the open sea, so that it seemed more than once that the  furious wind must blow them back upon the  beach or dash them against the rocks as they  sought to clear the point. Then they were past it at last, and flying before the wind toward the distant shore. Billy had one last glimpse of the Island as they rose on the crest  of a wave, then a curtain of rain descended and  blotted it from his sight. Yet even above the wind he could hear the strange, deep humming voice of Appledore calling aloud to  speed them on their way.