shoals near a point.

"We could ride out a gale here," Jake remarked.

"We could, if we wanted," Dick replied.

Jake looked at him rather hard and then made a sign of resignation.
"Well, I guess I've had enough, but if you're going on---- How do you
reckon you'll get through the shoals ahead?"

"I imagine some of them are mangrove islands, and if so, there'll be a
channel of a sort between them. In fact, the chart the broker showed me
indicated something of the kind. With good luck we may find it."

"Very well," said Jake. "I'm glad to think it will be a soft bottom if we
run aground."

They went on, keeping, so far as they could judge, midway between reef
and beach, but after a time the lead showed shoaling water and Jake used
the boathook instead. Then the sky cleared and a half-moon came out, and
they saw haze and the loom of trees outshore of them. Slowing the engine,
they moved on cautiously while the water gradually got shallower, until
glistening banks of mud began to break the surface. Then they stopped the
engine, but found the launch still moved forward.

"I imagine it's about four hours' flood," Dick remarked. "That means the
water will rise for some time yet, and although the current's with us now
I think we can't be far off the meeting of the tides."

Jake nodded. In places of the kind, the stream often runs in from both
ends until it joins and flows in one direction from the shoalest spot.

"Then we ought to find a channel leading out on the other side."

They let the engine run for a few minutes until the boat touched bottom
and stuck fast in the mud. The wind seemed to be falling and the roar of
the surf had got fainter. Thin haze dimmed the moonlight and there were
strange splashings in the water that gently lapped about the belts of
mud. The stream stopped running, but seeing no passage they waited and
smoked.

"If we can get out on the other side, we oughtn't to be very far from the
lagoon," Jake suggested.

Presently there was a faint rippling against the bows and the launch
began to swing round.

"The tide's coming through from the other end," said Dick. "We may find a
channel if we can push her across the mud."

For half an hour they laboriously poled her with a long oar and the
boathook between the banks of mire. Sometimes she touched and stuck until
the rising water floated her off, and sometimes she scraped along the
bottom, but still made progress. They were breathless and soake