se of wait till the fog
lifts."

"We can't keep this gang out all night," said Evan. "That's flat."

"What do you propose?"

"Somebody must go ashore in a boat to telephone for a tug."

"No easy matter to take a boat ashore in this fog."

"It can be done. Just before the fog came down on us I marked that
Atlantic Highlands was due south of us, and not above a mile distant.
The wind has just come in from the east, and she'll hold there a while.
By keeping the wind abeam on the port side you'd hit the shore
somewhere near the pier."

"Well, I'll try it."

"No; you're our only qualified seaman. You must stand by the vessel.
I'll go."

"How will you get back?"

"I'll borrow or beg a compass ashore. You keep the whistle going, and
if the steam gives out, ring your bell."

"I doubt if you'll get the deckhands to bring you back. They'll go
quick enough."

"I'll get boatmen from the shore if they desert."

The deckhands were brought up through the forward hatch, and one of the
_Ernestina's_ boats was lowered away. As Evan stepped in he said:

"Don't tell them below that I've gone ashore unless you have to."

It was a ghostly trip. At a hundred yards' distance the _Ernestina_
was swallowed up entire in the fog, and thereafter they proceeded
blindly in a grey void. Only a little circle of leaden water was
visible around them, which travelled with them as they went. At minute
intervals the sound of her whistle reached them, but it was only
confusing for it seemed to come now from this side, now from that. Fog
plays strange tricks with acoustics. Evan steered, keeping the wake of
his boat straight and the wind in his left ear.

Finally to his relief the shapes of trees swam out ahead, and he had
the comfortable sensation of touching reality again. It is a thickly
settled shore, and he was quickly directed to the pier and the village.
Here Evan's story quickly won him help from the water-farers. To be
sure, two of his men incontinently walked off, but a dozen volunteers
offered to replace them. After patient telephoning he succeeded in
getting the promise of a tug from Perth Amboy, and stopping only to buy
out the greater part of a grocer's stock, he started back.

Within an hour of leaving the _Ernestina_ he was back on board. The
mate and Tenterden were still on deck. For a single moment the latter
looked at Evan with friendly eyes. No vessel had come within hail,
they reported.

Evan hasten