Page:Silver Shoal Light.djvu/283

 willingly consulted her watch. She sprang to her feet, crying:

"'Tis six bells in the second dog-watch! We must be stirring, if we're to fetch port at eight bells. There's little wind and a middling great sea; we 'll be bobbing like a pease-cod and no headway to speak of."

"Oh, dear!" sighed the Captain. "I'd like to stay and stay. Oh, it's nice! Look at the red light around the point,—that's another lighthouse,—and the stars beginning to shine."

He stood looking up at them for a moment, and then followed Joan.

"Leave your cutlass ready to your hand, Ben," he advised, "and keep an eye out. The night's going to be as black as—as a pot."

Joan flourished the hilt of the broad-sword.

"'Tis naked in my fist, sir!" she cried. "There's naught can take me by surprise." But she did not know what lay in store for her.

They walked toward the cove where the boat was moored. Garth stumbled a good deal in the half-light, for Joan, straining to catch a glimpse of the Ailouros, walked faster than she realized.

"I know she's anchored just off that big rock that juts out," Joan said. "Why, it's ridicu-