Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/297

Rh we should have been a nervous community; but I do believe every man was excited above the ordinary.

By tea time we had brought the land considerably nearer, and by eight o'clock were within three miles of it. Not a sign, however, of any ship could we discern, and the greatest vigilance had to be exercised on our part to allow no sign to escape to show our whereabouts. Exactly at nine o'clock the shore party, fully armed, assembled on deck, and the surf boat was swung overboard. Then in the darkness we crept down the gangway and took our places. The mate was in possession of the tiller, and when all was ready we set out for the shore.